Time and Time Again
by Legend Maker
Summary: The return of an old foe. A masterful new scheme. And a mistake that will sent the Titans into an uncontrollable maelstrom. Can the Titans get back in time? Or are they destined to become history?
1. Blast From The Past

Time and Time Again

Part 1: Blast from the Past

Writer's Note: This fic was originally intended for later in my "Wings of the Eagles" story, but the more I thought of it, the more I liked it. Therefore, I am writing it now. When I have completed the parts that would have gone before this part in Wings, it will be moved to there, but for now, its here. So enjoy. And this is for those who felt Slade disappeared in Black and White. I had no ideas for him. Until now.

Also, this takes place after the opening chapter of Wings, about a few weeks after.

"Good day Titans." Slade said on the monitor, his black and orange masked face filling the screen.

"Well well, look who's back!" Cyborg said. He wasn't very surprised, mostly thanks to Robin. He had indicated that someone was trying to hack a video feed into their computer fifteen seconds ago. The people who had done that successfully numbered one, so by the time Slade's masked face had appeared, the Titans had gathered, knowing who was calling.

"I guess he felt that he needed another butt kicking. Seek some help Slade! You're a closet masochist!" Beast Boy said.

"Spare me the flimsy posturing child. I do not have a high tolerance for nonsense." Slade said.

"Neither do we. What do you want Slade? You want us to foil another plan of yours? It would be our pleasure." Robin said. His voice was devoid of any mockery though: when it came to Slade, Robin had no humor.

"I will admit, I am impressed in the way you handled Killjoy. I could see one of your older superiors defeating him, but you? Impressive. You amaze me more and more every day, dear Robin."

"Call me dear one more time and I'll smash the screen and you can recite whatever message you have to an empty room." Robin snarled.

"Patience child. You have proven worthy foes. Therefore, I am going to give you a fair chance in my latest game." Slade said. "Where is your white haired companion? The one called Savior?"

"He's out. But worry not Slade. We can handle you fine without him." Raven said.

"I have no doubt. Well then Titans, here you are."

A new screen popped up below and to the right of Slade, a map that marked a building at the edge of town with a fancy S.

"You want to try and stop me? I'll save you some travel time. Here I am. Stop me if you can." Slade said, and then his face winked out from the screen.

"Does he actually think we'll fall for that?" Beast Boy said.

"Yes, he is surely erreneous if he thinks we lack intelligence in devising that this is a trap, most likely one filled with attempted murders and general ouchies." Starfire replied.

"Then I guess we'll have to be extra careful heading over there." Robin said.

"Robin, before we do anything, the second you start showing any sign of obsession, we're gonna tie you up and bring you back here until we devise another plan." Raven said. Robin glanced over at the pale girl, and nodded.

"I'll keep it in check. But Slade is dangerous, and even if this is a trap, we have to at least check it out. If we don't, who knows who'll be hurt?"

"I know that if we check it out, WE will." Beast Boy muttered as the Titans left the room.

"NOTHING?" Robin said incredulously.

"Rob, I just upgraded my visual devices, and tested them thrice over. There's nothing in that warehouse except one person, and he matches the general form of Slade. Could be a robot, but just one?" Cyborg said as he looked over to the Teen Wonder, having just spent the last minute scanning the warehouse from afar.

"Maybe it's a super robot Slade made to defeat us." Beast Boy said.

"Possibly. Just one robot?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"Yes. No groups of robots. No Cinderblock. No Plasmus. No Troika. Just a robot. Or Slade himself."

"I smell a rat." Robin said. "Ok Titans, Attack plan Episolon-7. Be ready for ANYTHING."

The Titans stealthily crept up to the door and assumed the positions they had memorized.

For a moment, quiet.

"NOW!"

Cyborg blew the door off its hinges and then the Titans all ran/flew/jumped through the door, forming a tight pack in case they needed to concentrate an attack on a single target, while also in optimum position to scatter if need be. The teenage heroes bounded into the dimly lit room, spinning and twisting, looking for anything that could be construed as a threat. They finally stopped, all of them with attacks charged and at hand.

There was no counter attack. Just the sound of clapping, and then Slade walked out of the shadows, his lone eye filled with sarcastic amazement.

"Bravo. Very nice entrance." Slade said in an ironic tone.

"Slade." Robin said as the Titans all turned to face the man who had been a thorn in their side for a long time.

"Or is he?" Starfire asked.

"I'm reading flesh and blood under that armour. He ain't a robot, but I'm not sure if it's definitely Slade." Cyborg said.

"Oh, it is I, Titans. I would not miss this for the world." Slade said.

"What are you planning THIS time Slade?" Robin said, somehow keeping his urge to throw every bit of weaponry he possessed at this man in check.

"This time. How appropriate." Slade said. "You know, I am rarely wrong Titans, but you have provided me with one of those rare times. All my assassins and warriors have failed me in my order to defeat you. And when I finally stepped in and did it myself, I found myself frustrated by failure as well. After Killjoy failed, well, I went over my choices, and while pondering them a phrase came to mind. One that will finally allow me to make things the way they should have been originally, had not fate decided to be spiteful."

Slade lifted an arm and pressed a button, and a spotlight lit up behind and to the right of him, illuminating the device that had been hidden by the shadows.

A…Chromoton Detonator.

For a few seconds there was silence.

And then Cyborg and Beast Boy cracked up, and even Raven cracked a small smile. Robin's face stayed severe, but his posture altered, ever so slightly, to indicate he had loosened up a bit.

"Dude, we may be kids, and I was never at the top of my class, but  C'MON! Do you actually expect that to work after LAST time?" Beast Boy laughed.

"He said it best Slade. Have you lost your mind? Do you expect us to be fooled by that paper tiger again? We know damn well the ability to destroy time is beyond you." Robin said.

"And DON'T try zapping us with nanonites again. We have safeguards now." Cyborg said.

"Ah children, the expression I believe you should pay heed to is 'don't judge a book by its cover.'" Slade said. Beast Boy's laughter died off.

"This device may look like my previous bluff, but is not. This is not a Chromoton Detonator. This is a Chromoton DESTABILIZER." Slade said.

"…And that is?" Beast Boy said, scratching his head.

"Trouble! TITANS…!" Robin said.

Slade snapped out his other arm and another switch, similar to the one Slade had used to trigger the nanonites within the Titans, snapped up to his hand.

"Don't move Titans. As fast as you can move, it will not be fast enough. Believe me." Slade said.

"What is that bluff that is not a bluff Robin?" Starfire said.

"Like he said, trouble. For all of you. You see Titans, the phrase that inspired my latest epiphany was "If only I could turn back time". And then, that was followed by…why not?" Slade said. "Stopping time completely is impossible, but altering it…that was within my means. Abet not without effort. That is why I have been absent lately, while you dealt with those freaks and monsters. But I have returned, and this time, I will succeed. In fact, I already have."

"How?" Cyborg said.

"Let me tell you what this does, Cyborg. You assume time is like a river, even flowing in one direction, inescapable and unstoppable. Wrong. Time is more like one line on a piece of paper the size of the universe. Each line represents one universe of possibilities and choices. Another, another. And so on. And the farther you go, the more different you find things. Places where words were unspoken, vows were unbroken, and where I am speaking to you without inadvertently rhyming. An infinite number of possibilities." Slade said. "This device will break that nicely layered line and make them cross and distort through each other. And you, Titans, will be cast into the chaos between continuums, leaving me unaffected while I search for the proper timeline. The timeline where things went the way they should have. Where you, Robin, realized your proper place at my side, one where you cast aside your friends as ordered and set out with me to achieve your true destiny. And once that is found…I will stop this device, and it will become reality. And hence will things be made right." Slade said.

"Never! I will never be like that!" Robin snapped.

"Wrong, child. It's all a matter of circumstance. This present reality has failed me. So I will find a different one that worked properly. Good bye Titans. You were worthy foes. I wonder if you will be so when this is done."

"You know, considering all you said about possibilities, I'm surprised that you didn't consider that this reality had the possibility of this happening."

Slade's lone eye widened at the new voice, and he turned around as the line shot out of the shadows, a strand of piercing white energy. But it wasn't aimed for Slade…

"NO!!!!!" Slade yelled as the Shimmer smashed through the Chromoton Destabilizer. The machine shuddered and sagged to the side slightly, as Savior swooped down from the perch he had attacked from.

"WHAT HAVE YOU-ARGH!" Slade yelled as a Birdarang, thrown expertly by Robin, flew under his hand and clipped the switch that Slade had had at the ready, smashing it into pieces. Slade turned back towards the Titans as twin Starbolts and a sonic blast hit him in the chest, throwing him off his feet.

"Savior!" Raven said.

"Hey guys. The government bigwigs decided to give the superheroes at the conference the weekend off. And so here I am. Good thing your communicators have tracing devices." Savior said.

"You did good Savior." Cyborg said, even as Robin pounced of Slade and smashed him across the face with a punch.

"Your plan, as Savior might say Slade, has been Operation Market Gardened." Robin said, as he reared back for another punch.  
"GET OFF ME YOU FOOLISH CHILD!" Slade yelled, twisting and tossing Robin off of him. Slade flipped to his feet and barely dodged another sonic blast.

Savior was about to join in the attack when he heard a slight humming, and then an intense vibration that rattled in his teeth. What the hell…

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled as the Titans gathered around him, preparing to pound Slade into the ground.

"NO! GET AWAY! WE CAN'T FIGHT NOW!" Slade yelled. The humming grew in volume, and the other Titans noticed it too.

And then the Chromoton Destabalizer lit up, even as sparks flew from the place where Noel had impaled it. The warehouse began to shake.

"You stupid children! You didn't deactivate the device! You just damaged it! It's still operating, and I have no way of controlling it! And WE'RE STILL IN ITS BLAST RANGE!" Slade yelled, and tried to sprint away.

"Robin!" Starfire yelled.

"TITANS…!" Robin began.

And then it happened. Savior, who had been running towards the Titans, was blinded by a huge flash of light and then blown off his feet by a shockwave. He slammed against the wall as stars exploded in his vision.

He rose, shaking his head, as the light and the vibrations faded. He looked at where the Titans, his allies had been.

His eyes widened.

"No…"

The area around where the Chromoton Destablizer had been no longer was. Or rather, it was no longer the way it had been. It was if someone had dropped a shifting load of clear jelly around it, a jelly that sparkled with myriad colours, one that, despite being clear, could show nothing within it.

An area where time…had been torn apart.

"Raven? Robin? Starfire? Beast Boy? Cyborg? Guys?" Savior said, walking over. He stopped several feet before the shifting mass that had once been a warehouse floor and the area above a warehouse floor, and was now…what?

An infinite number of possibilities?

Spying a nearby wood chair, Savior picked it up with the Shimmer and hurled it at the plasmic mass.

A bright flash ignited the area, and Savior recoiled. He heard the sound of various objects landing, and he lowered his arms and took a look.

The chair was on the floor in front of him, in pieces. No. Not just in pieces.

Using the Shimmer, Savior picked up what had once been a wood chair and examined the remains.

One piece was fresh smelling and sticky, as if it was wood that had just been cut off a tree. Another was so old and gnarled that it looked ancient. Another was little more then charcoal, burned in a fire. Another was a strange colour, and it smelled bad. And so on, and so on, no two pieces alike.

The chair…had become all it could have ever been. And the process had destroyed it.

Savior dropped the pieces, looking at the area where his friends had been, before he had tried to save the day by smashing the device...and caused this instead.

"No…" Savior said, his voice filled with grief and fear as he fell to his knees. "What have I done?"

But he knew just what.

The road to hell was paved with good intentions.

And Savior had just made his friends, literally, become history.

Next: How It All Began!


	2. We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us

Part 2: We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us

Writer's Note: When I started writing this, I had no idea the first second season episode of Teen Titans would also involve time travel. In any case, when that airs (it hasn't yet as of the time of this sentence being written), if you liked that you'll love this. Anyway, let us begin.

"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory does not understand it."

-Niels Bohr, 1927

"Nobody understands quantum theory."

-Richard Feynman, 1967

It was a beautiful sunny day in Jump City…except this wasn't Jump City…and yet it WAS Jump City.

Our eyes may notice what may be called a "retro" look. Everything seemed to have that strange quality that was prevalent in the 60's. The buildings, the cars, the clothes…to our modern eyes, we may stop and wonder what all the fuss was about.

But the people walking around would not think that the look that surrounds and defines them was retro. To them, it was modern. For you see, we are in the 60's. 1965, to be exact. Now let us turn to a certain scene…

"Thanks kids. We didn't know what we'd have done without you." Said the cop, as he closed the door on a paddy wagon. The cop was chubby and had an Irish accent. For some reason we are not surprised. Well, I'm not anyway.

"A pleasure, sir! It is a great honor to serve society to the best of our abilities!" said Robin.

Wait a second, Robin? Yes, indeed, it is Robin. But this is not Timothy Drake. For one thing, it sounds nothing like Tim. And the costume is wrong. The mask is smaller, the chest costume slightly less bulky to denote the absence of modern armor, and most of all, this Robin is not wearing pants. Not to say he's running around indecently, rather, instead of pants this Robin is wearing green shorts and ludicrous looking green fairy shoes rather then armored boots. In a way, this Robin defines the retro look we have noticed.

Like the Robin we know, this Robin has four allies. But none of them resemble the Titans we know. Let us take a look.

If there had to be a linking characteristic, it would be "red", as all these teenagers are wearing red in some form. The teen closest to Robin is wearing an all-red outfit save for yellow gloves and boots. His mask is also yellow, and the yellow hat with a green feather and yellow quiver with arrows makes him look like a young and red-obsessed Robin…Hood that is.

The colors are reversed for the second teen. He's wearing a one piece costume that is yellow for the torso, head, and boots, though his leggings and gloves are red. His mask has twin attachments on the side of his head that look strangely like some kind of hood ornament.

Back to the red for the third male teenager. He is wearing a red shirt, with blue shorts, boots, and gloves. He has curly black hair and an expression that looks like a combination of innocence and cluelessness. His look reminds us of someone we may have met somewhere else, in a form that looked a LOT better.

The lone female also has red for her outfit, again on the torso of her costume, with a golden eagle over it. She wears blue shorts with stars on them, red high heels that would more likely then not be very hard to fight in, and with the golden whip tied to her side, is the spitting image of Wonder Woman, if she was a girl instead of a woman.

The policeman and his partner have by now gotten into the paddy wagon and driven off.

"Will Mr. Twister never learn?" says the Robin Hood lookalike.

"Never! Those bad dudes are so lacking in hipness! I bet that if they could just sit down and listen to some good jive, they'd stop being so darn lame!" Robin said.

"But then we would have nothing to do." Says Blue Shorts.

"Ah, sure we will! We're the Teen Titans, undoers of badness everywhere in this cool joint of a city! Now let's go back to our tower and party! As soon as we make sure it's perfectly clean!" Robin said.

The Teen Titans? Yes, indeed! For you are looking at the very first version of the team, composed of Robin I, Speedy the archer, Kid Flash the speedster, Wonder Girl the warrior, and Aqualad the…fish summoner. Yes, they are the Teen Titans!

Though they may have some trouble keeping that name now, as they turn down the (strangely empty) street and reality suddenly rips itself apart in front of them.

"What the fudge?" Robin I said as the street and the air suddenly split apart, and with a sudden yell, dumped the Titans we all know and love out in front of the other Titans. A few seconds passed as the rip closed up, leaving nothing behind, even as the Titans lay on the ground groaning.

"Did anyone get the number for that squad of Sherman Tanks?" Beast Boy groaned while on the ground.

"That…was extremely unpleasant." Raven said.

"Man, what happened?" Cyborg said.

"Noel messed up Slade's Chromoton Destabalizer. It activated…and did what?" Robin said.

"We are still alive. That must be a good sign…" Starfire said.

"Yeah, but how…are…we…" Beast Boy trailed off as he looked over and saw them.

"Hey Gar, are you gonna finish that sen…tence…" Cyborg said as he saw them as well.

For a few moments the street was quiet, as the Teen Titans looked at…the Teen Titans, and vice versa. The ones tossed by Slade's device on the right, and the ones we just saw on the left.

Robin, or rather Tim Drake, blinked, trying to figure out what to do, what to say, how to handle what he was seeing, and a thousand other problems.

Robin I ultimately solved the problem for him. However, it wasn't in a good way.

"Holy mirror! The Antithesis must have made evil clones of us to take his revenge! We must battle them, or they will replace us and do many bad and mean things!" Robin I said.

"The WHO will do WHAT on the WHICH on the WHU?" Beast Boy said. He was having a hard time looking at another Robin, much less a Robin who came out sounding like a bad parody of a 60's comic book ( ;) ).

"Robin, why does only your clone look like you?" Wonder Girl said.

"Holy inaccuracies! The Antithesis is so evil, he made clones of us that don't look like us! I cannot believe how fiendish he is!" Robin I said.

"Buddy, what you said makes no sense." Cyborg said.

"Be quiet you evil clone that does not look like me! We will not let you replace us!" Kid Flash said.

"Look at the chick!" Speedy said, indicating Starfire. 

"Oh, you hussy! Put some clothes on!" Wonder Girl said.

"Excuse me? What is erroneous in my choice of apparel?" Starfire asked.

"You're showing your belly button! Hussy! Whore!" Wonder Girl said.

"Dude, this is some fucked up shit right here." Beast Boy said in his best South Park impression.

All the "Original Titans" went bone white. Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Holy foul mouth! You said a bad word! We can't let you stay here any longer! Titans, advance for the cause of justice and happiness for all!" Robin I said.

The Original Titans charged, even as Robin held his head in his hands.

"My god Dick, I can't believe you were once so lame." Robin said.

"Robin, these are clearly our predecessors. I know we weren't the first team to bear the Teen Titan name. But they think we're evil clones, and are going to attack us. What do we do? Shall we retreat?" Raven said.

"What did Slade say? The device caused timelines to distort and cross. If so, nothing we do here will affect OUR timeline…providing we can get back to it! And since I hate running…TITANS, GO!"

"Holy brevity! You don't even have a good battle cry!" Robin I said as the Titans split apart before the two teams crashed together.

"Eat Batarang, you evil clone!" Robin I said as he threw the named projectile at Robin (for the sake of simplicity, I will call the Robin from the Teen Titans cartoon Robin, and the Robin we have met in this chapter Robin I. In case you're curious, Timothy Drake is actually Robin III. So who was Robin II? Go read some comics).

Robin countered with a Birdarang, which chopped through the Batarang like it was made of wet paper and nearly embedded itself in Robin I's skull had he not dodged at the last minute.

"Holy inferior material." Robin said grimly.

"There is nothing wrong with my garments! Therefore you have insulted me! I don't like that!" Starfire said as she fired a few Starbolts at Wonder Girl. But Wonder Girl brought up her wrists, and the metal bands on them reflected the Starbolts away from her.

"You cannot stand before me, my evil hussy clone!"

"I am not a hussy! I don't even know what that word means!" Starfire protested, as she dodged aside as Wonder Girl flew at her.

"So…is that other female my clone? But I...and her…I am confused…" Aqualad said.

"Dude, we're not your clones! But hey, you won't listen. Oh well. I knew you, or some version of you, and though he was a good guy he annoyed me. But still a good guy, so I'll make it painless!" Beast Boy said as he turned into a triceratops and charged at Aqualad. Aqualad looked alarmed.

"Come, my underwater friends! Aid me!" Aqaulad said as he put his hand on his head.

"Dude, there's no water around here for miles! You're…" Beast Boy said…before a fire hydrant exploded next to him…and goldfish started pouring out on the stream, smacking into Beast Boy's face. The attack was far more surreal then painful, and Beast Boy stopped in his tracks.

"What the hell? How? Wha?" Beast Boy sputtered.

"I will defeat you with ease!" Speedy said as he cocked an arrow and fired it at Cyborg. The boxing glove arrow hit his chest…and bounced off. Cyborg looked down at it.

"That it?"

"Never! I have many more!" Speedy said, as he cocked and fired…another boxing glove arrow. It fared as well as the first one. Cyborg stood there, wondering if he should attack or just see if Speedy could defeat himself.

"Azarath MetRION…" Raven said, her voice suddenly getting higher and more nasal as Kid Flash was suddenly in front of her, pinching her nose shut.

"Got your nose!"

Raven growled and swiped at Kid Flash, but he was already gone. A second he later he zipped past her, causing her cloak to fly over and cover her head. Muffled curses came from within the cloak.

"Holy failure! My Batarang, Bat-Bolo, Bat-Glue, Bat-Bat, Bat-Rope, and Bat-Chair didn't work! Very well, try my Bat Bug Spray!" Robin I said, as he stood among piles of failed gadgets while he rummaged in his utility belt.

"Good lord Bruce, did you really cram so much junk into your costumes in the old days? I have a feeling you could fall asleep and your BELT would keep fighting crime for you." Robin said. He dodged the spray of stuff that Robin I tossed at him.

"Holy missed target! I guess I will have to defeat you on my own!" Robin I said.

"You DO call your fists your fists, right? Not your "Bat-Punches" or "Bat-Blows" or something? Good lord Dick, you need a serious injection of originality." Robin said. Robin I went pale again.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?"

"Um…" Robin said, realizing he had slipped. "Internet?"

"Inter-what?"

"Uh…hey, if you don't beat me, I and my evil clones will take over the world!" Robin said.

"NEVER!" Robin I said, leaping at Robin. Robin easily dodged and, snapping out his staff, countered with a blow to Robin I's leg. It was a fairly bad blow, and Robin would be surprised if he noticed it.

He did. In fact, he started jumping up and down screaming.

"HOLY AGONY! YOU HIT ME!"

"Uh, yeah?" Robin said.

"Holy not knowing the rules! You're not supposed to hit me!" Robin I said.

Robin facevaulted.

"Holy impossible body contortion! What was that?"

"Ha ha! Hoo hoo! Yee hee! Whoa-ho!" Kid Flash said as he zipped and zapped around Raven, as he poked her and prodded her and generally annoyed the hell out of her. Fortunately, he was a 60's youth, so he didn't try anything like copping a feel. None the less, Raven was on the edge of her rope, but every attack she tried against Kid Flash missed by the proverbial mile. Kid Flash stopped and stuck out his tongue.

"You can't hit me! Nah nah nah nah nah-NAH!" Kid Flash said, and started to run again…

In one place. You see, he was now floating a few feet off the ground, encased in black energy.

Raven smirked.

"You can't run away if you have nothing to run ON." Raven said, as she flipped Kid Flash around and (lightly) banged his head on the ground.

Cyborg angrily pulled the plunger-arrow off his face. Like Raven, his tolerance had just hit the breaking point.

"Ok kid, if you hit me with one more silly arrow I'll…"

A paint arrow hit him in the chest, making his torso all (what else?) red.

"ARGGGHHHH!" Cyborg said, and then launched into a torrent of swearing so intense I can't reprint it here. When he was finished, he felt much better, and turned back to Speedy…

Who was on the ground, his hands over his ears, whimpering.

"Such bad words…so many bad words…" Speedy said.

"Oh right, world that never heard of the Sopranos." Cyborg said.

Starfire was also getting frustrated. Wonder Girl kept blocking her Starbolts with her bracelets, and she would not stop calling her a hussy.

"Please, your comments are starting to make me unhappy! I do not like to be unhappy!" Starfire said.

"Live with it, HUSSY!" Wonder Girl said. Starfire's eyes glowed bright green.

"Fine then. Have it YOUR WAY." Starfire said as green energy exploded on her hands. Her eyes narrowed as she aimed, and then she fired twin "super-Starbolts" at Wonder Girl.

With a victorious smile on her face, Wonder Girl snapped out her arms to block them…

The bolts smashed into her chest, and Wonder Girl's eyes filled with surprise, even as the blast impact sent her flying into the ground.

"How…?" was all she managed to say before she hit the cement.

"Whoa, nice shot Starfire! How did you do that?" Cyborg said as Starfire floated down next to him.

"She was blocking all my shots with her bracelets. So I aimed at the bracelets themselves. She tried to block the blow that wasn't coming and left herself open. That's the thing about this time. There wasn't much in the way of imagination." Starfire said.

"And I imagine we will need to help Beast Boy. Aqualad seems to be giving him some trouble." Raven said.

Indeed, he was. But it wasn't the fish, oh no. That had proven to be completely ineffective against Beast Boy. Had they been in the ocean, it might have been different, but they were in the middle of a city street. So Beast Boy had decided to end the battle as quickly and painlessly as possible and had become a polar bear. And as the other three Titans watched, he gave Aqualad a powerful bat across the face. His claws were sheathed of course, such an attack with them out would be undeniably lethal. But it was one heck of a blow anyway, so much it went Aqualad flying back and crashing into a wall.

But he got right back up, and kept trying to summon fish to aid him.

"In the words of the lame Robin, Holy endurance! How did he do that?" Cyborg said.

"Haven't you met Aquaman, Vic? For all the jokes people make about him and how lame the ability to summon fish is, keep in mind his species was raised at the bottom of the sea. The pressure down there can cave in steel structures. Imagine how tough a species must be to have been designed to withstand that pressure."

"Huh. I suppose that makes sense. Though I wish the Aqualad we had known would have demonstrated that." Cyborg said.

"He'll need a real strong impact to knock him senseless. Beast Boy! Go for air!" Raven called. Beast Boy heard Raven's command, and though he didn't understand how it would help, he figured anything was better then this endless mess he was in. So as Aqualad, now bruised a bit but still fighting on, got back up, Beast Boy turned into a bull and charged, carefully catching Aqualad in his horns and throwing him up.

A low-powered Starbolt, sonic cannon blast, and telepathic bolt slammed into the young teen, and the impact back into the ground finally knocked him out.

"Man, whoever made jokes on how lame Aqualad was is nuts. This guy's a badass!" Beast Boy said as the Titans gathered around Aqualad's fallen form. Raven checked his vitals and found them to be stable. He'd be fine when he woke up.

"Our Fearless Leader should finish off the Fruitcake Leader soon." Cyborg said. Indeed, Robin was running circles around Robin I. Robin I had the edge in agility, but Robin had better combat techniques and more advanced body armour. Plus the fact that Robin I seemed to be so inherently lame, even more lame then the massive amounts of lame that the Titans had experienced.

"Holy impossibility! I cannot lose! I am a superhero! We never lose!" Robin I said, just before Robin gave him a love tap across the forehead with his staff. Robin I flew backwards like he had been hit by a wrecking ball, and lay on the ground holding his forehead and screaming in pain.

"Ok, this has gone from pathetic and crossed into the realm of painfully irrevelant." Robin said as he put his staff away. The Titans deposited Robin I's beaten companions around him and walked back to the side of their leader.

"What do we do now Tim?" Starfire said.

"We let them recover and then try and explain. As silly as they are, they're still superheroes. Hopefully they will listen."

"Holy conquering! I cannot believe that our evil clones have won! Is what they say true? Could we Teen Titans be too young to be proper heroes on our own?" Robin I said as he and his companions struggled to their feet.

"Titans! Listen now! We…" Robin began.

And then his nostrils suddenly filled with the stench of ozone, and suddenly reality lost all cohesion, the Titans standing before him fading out into colors beyond his ability to comprehend.

To the other Titans, they saw reality rip open around the ones who had defeated them and pull the Titans in, and within a few seconds they were gone.

Again, silence.

"Hah! The Antithesis must have seen we were about to beat his evil clones and called them back before we could! What a coward! But then again, what could you expect from a villain?" Robin I laughed.

"But Robin…" Speedy said.

"HE CALLED THEM BACK!" Robin I laughed again. "Holy missed opportunity! And just when I was about to get serious! Come my friends! Let's go get some shakes and listen to some jive!"

"Whatever you say…"

"Sure Robin…"

"I still don't understand how that girl was my clone…"

"What foul language. We should have washed their mouths out with soap!"

"Holy ground!"

"What, Robin?"

"The ground! The battle made a bunch of holes in it! You know, holey."

"Oh."

And so these Titans, know in some other world, went on. Perhaps they would overcome the lameness that seemed to taint them and become truly great superheroes. With names like, say, Nightwing, Arsenal, The Flash, Tempest, and Troia.

And for the Titans that we know…their journey has just begun.

Next: A world where monsters come from within, where a new hero leads the Titans, and a world where you are surprised where every blow doesn't produce a strange emission of sparks…


	3. Go Go Teen Titans

Part 3: Go Go Teen Titans

Writer's Note: I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count on who created the new characters in this chapter.

You are correct sir/madam! Will I ever make any heroes or villains of my own? Well, maybe. But for now, chapter 3!

There is no real way to describe time travel. The human nervous system is an amazing natural device, but it can only process so many kinds of data. Being taken apart atom by atom at speeds beyond light and zipped across the lines between realms to be reassembled on the other side was not something nature prepared the human body for. If one really had to find a word for it, it would be "floaty", a kind of very short high that no amount of drugs could match.

Then again, while highs may be pleasant, they are also very damaging. Keep that in mind, as we follow the Titans now…

A college, and this one looks familiar to our modern eyes. True, there is a thing or two that may cause us a double take in their unfamiliarity to us, but besides that, one could almost think the Titans have found their way home.

And they have, in a way. But this is not the world they know, as the air in a strangely abandoned courtyard is suddenly filled with the intense ozone smell that signals a dimensional rip. And that could prove very bad…

The air split open, dumping the Titans out. This time went a little better, as Robin's great training allowed him to land on his feet, and Raven managed to stop herself from hitting the ground. Then Beast Boy landed on her, driving her down and rending the whole accomplishment moot, but hey, the attempt is what matters. Starfire and Cyborg had their own unpleasant landings.

"Hmmmm mmmm…." Beast Boy muttered. He had been trying to say he landed on something soft, but his words were muffled. He raised his head up a bit…and realized he had landed on Raven. Specifically, his face was directly between her breasts. He yelled and scrambled up.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! I didn't mean it! Please don't break me in half!" Beast Boy yelled, his face burning.

"Not your fault Gar…and you retracted quick enough…" Raven said, blushing slightly herself, which she tried to hide by covering her face with her hood. Beast Boy decided to leave it there and scampered over to help Cyborg get up, not so much to help but to hide how touching that part of Raven had affected him.  Sometimes skin-tight clothing had its disadvantages.

"Where have we gone now?" Starfire said.

"I would assume that, after our first experience, we have gone to another timeline. Which raises another question: how?" Robin said.

"Slade didn't stick any devices on us or in us this time…maybe he programmed our signatures into the Chromoton Destabalizer or something? Maybe it selected us because we were close? Maybe…ow, this is making my head hurt." Cyborg said.

"Timelines are very confusing business. Take the Grandfather Paradox theory, for example. You dwell on that too long, you'll go mad." Robin said.

"But Robin, how the device works is not my concern. I would rather know how to get home." Starfire said.

"Yeah Fearless, how do we stop this?" Beast Boy said.

"I…I don't know." Robin said.

There was silence.

"Dude, YOU DON'T KNOW? YOU WERE TRAINED BY BATMAN! He's responsible for some of the biggest come from behind JLA victories because of his ability to plan! Surely you can think of something we can do!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Gar, if this was a plot by Slade, I honestly think I could have an idea. But when Noel damaged the device, I think it went from "evil plot of Slade's" to "act of God". I think that…we may very well be stuck like this."

"Constantly flipping from one timeline to another at random intervals without any means to predict and control it? No, I will not accept that!" Cyborg yelled.

"CALM DOWN VICTOR. Fighting amongst ourselves will not help! I didn't say we were helpless…I was just considering the worst possible scenario. It's not definite…yet anyway." Robin said.

There was silence among the Titans.

"Well, if there's any consolation, Slade got caught by the malfunction as well. Maybe he'll get dumped in a world where Trigon won and get eaten by demons or something." Beast Boy said. The Titans were not cheered by that possibility.

"Ok, first things first. Where are we? Do you recognize this place Robin?" Raven asked.

"I recognize those buildings off in the distance, but…" Robin said, indicating the skyline. "This looks like a large school of some kind. Jump City doesn't have a school or college."

"In our time anyway. Maybe we should check for this reality's Titans. Maybe they can help us." Cyborg said.

"Good idea, but something troubles me. Has anyone ever seen the movie Timecop?" Beast Boy said.

"No." said Robin.

"No." said Raven.

"No." said Cyborg.

"Yes." Starfire said. Everyone looked at her. "Oh, was I supposed to say no too? Ok, no."

"Never mind! Not the best movie, but it made a point about time travel. It basically said that the same kind of matter couldn't exist in two places at once. In other words, if this is another "present" timeline, if we meet "ourselves", we shouldn't touch each other. If what the movie theorized is true, it would act like matter and anti-matter, canceling each other out. Both of "us" would cease to exist." Beast Boy explained. Starfire looked confused, but Robin and Cyborg nodded their heads in understanding.

"Right. Ok guys, let's hurry, we don't know when or even if the…" Robin said, and then he stopped. "Is that screaming?"

The Titans looked around, and Beast Boy turned into a rabbit and pricked up his ears.

"Not just screaming. A LOT of screaming." Beast Boy said.

"Titans, we'd better…" Robin began again, but in the end he didn't have to direct the Titans to the screaming. It came to them.

Well, actually, the first groups of people weren't screaming. They were just running. But it was clear they weren't in a marathon: there was a different between running full out to win a race and running full out because you're scared for your life, and Robin knew enough about body language to tell the difference. These people were afraid of something.

Though what it was was yet undefined. The first group of people just ran past the Titans like they weren't there. Any attempt to stop them to ask a question was ignored. A few people yelled "Help us!" as they ran past, indicating they recognized the Titans, but that was it.

More people came, and now the screamers were finally arriving. Seeing the terrible possibilities of a full-blown stampede, the Titans split up to try and keep people from trampling each other, and also trying to find out what was happening. They got nothing, so when the giant knot of people was spread out so that people wouldn't trip over each other, fall down, and get squashed under the rampaging herd, they flew/headed in the direction of the runners. They quickly encountered another knot of people, and had to repeat the process.

People were still running as the Titans came back together, and finally Robin had had enough and signaled to Raven. Raven reached out and grabbed a male runner, pulling him over via her telekinesis.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"An Id! Stop them Titans!" the man said. Raven had let go of her TK hold when she had pulled him over, and he quickly scampered on.

"What did he say?" Beast Boy said.

"I couldn't hear clearly over the noise. What did he say? Candid?" Robin said.

"Robin, look!" Starfire said, pointing, even as a few stragglers ran past the Titans.

A woman was staggering towards the Titans. Her sweater had once been a light green in color, but now it was so dark it was almost black. Robin blinked, and then realized the blackening was caused by blood. The woman coughed, and blood leaked from her mouth to confirm that theory.

"Help…me…" she whispered, though over the noise of the fleeing crowd, Robin could just see her lips move. Then she abruptly jerked, let out a small cry, and fell forward onto her face.

Robin ran over to her, and he saw what had caused the bleeding. From her back protruded several large black spikes. Confused, Robin started at the fatal instruments. Were they made of bone? Metal? Something else? Robin, breaking his own rule of not disturbing a crime scene, pulled one of the spikes out to examine it. It was fairly heavy, but that was pretty much the only thing Robin could tell. The look, the texture, and even the aroma (a strange ammonia-ish scent) couldn't clue him in on what had killed the woman.

"What in the…" he said.

"Robin…" Starfire said, a note of urgency and slight fear in her tone. Robin looked up and saw it.

At first glance, he nearly laughed out loud at what he saw. It looked like a man in a rubber costume, the kind seen in countless Godzilla movies, the sign of Ultraman and the Power Rangers. What were they called? Cathu? Kaiju? Kacuju? Robin couldn't recall the exact term, but the creature in front of him looked just like that.

And then he realized he was wrong. This was no costume. It moved all wrong. This was no stuntman in a ridiculous rubber suit that most likely was very uncomfortable to wear under hot stage lights or outside. This moved like…a living thing. Muscles rippled under the black "skin" of the creature, the large red eyes moved like actual EYES and not like someone pulling on a puppet wire, and despite the strange deformities of the body, the creature moved like any normal animal used to its body would. It was terribly…REAL.

The monster stood about six and a half feet tall, and its skin was completely black. No, not skin. It had a shiny quality that looked like some kind of armor.

And it was covered in spikes. Large horns reminiscent of the villain from the film _Legend_ jutted from its head. Spikes sprouted and extended from shoulders, arms, torso, legs, and feet, though none were in a position that could keep the monster from stabbing itself. Though considering it's bulk, and the weird shiny quality of its flesh, one wonders if that would have bothered the creature.

For a moment the Titans were caught up in the surreal moment when reality as you know it changes drastically. Beast Boy had felt it when he first realized he could change into animals. Raven had had a moment when she had tried expressing emotions and found she could. The Titans had had a group moment during the Final Night when they realized they were too late and the Lord had become a god. And as they looked at this bizarre monster that looked more like it belonged in a child's nightmare rather then walking before them, they had another one.

But, to their credit, it was short. Then the Titans remembered this creature had just killed a woman, and was undoubtedly what the crowd had been running from. That made it dangerous, and it was their job to stop those things. Whether they were human, robot, supernatural…or this.

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled, snapping out his staff.

"So…Titans…" the monster said through a mouth filled with sharp teeth. It had a low growling quality that seemed strangely off. It wasn't an angry tone…no…but what it was…

Starfire flew up and fired Starbolts at the monster. The blasts exploded on the creature, but it didn't even stop its forward walk. Robin dove to the side and hurled a Birdarang at the creature's head. It slammed into the monster's "cheek"…and bounced off. The monster didn't even seem to notice it.

"Weltall was right." The monster said, and aimed one of his arms at Robin. Robin began to dodge…

Robin felt the impact more then the pain, as spikes fired off the monster's arm and lanced through his shoulder. But the sheer speed of the attack (Robin had seen it coming. When he saw things coming, the attacks tended to miss. This time, all his dodging had accomplished was that the spikes hit him in the shoulder instead of in the chest. True, in a way that meant he had succeeded, but he certainly didn't feel like it) was muted by his shock as the spikes tore through his shoulder, shattering the bone and blasting out the other end with a spray of blood. Robin's gear was top-notch tech, the best that money could buy. Putting something through his body armor was like putting something through 2 ½ inches of titanium (especially after Killjoy, when Robin had beefed up his protection even more). But the spikes had gone through his shoulder like his armor was made of paper. That, and the impact, sent Robin stumbling down. The pain hit him, then, but in a way it was welcome. Pain was familiar. Unlike monsters with biological weapons that could go through what nearly all modern bullets could not.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven called, lifting up some park benches and smashing them into the monster. Again, it wasn't phased.

Beast Boy became a triceratops and charged. The monster moved slightly as Beast Boy bore down on him, and then Beast Boy abruptly stopped as the monster…grabbed him. Cyborg's jaw dropped slightly as the monster heaved Beast Boy's huge body up and hurled it aside. Beast Boy avoided injury by turning into a bird, but the fact that the monster had the strength to do that was still staggering.

"You call those horns? Please." The monster said.

Cyborg tried his hand, blasting the monster with full powered sonic blasts. Again, the creature wasn't even bothered. Though that didn't stop it from firing more spikes at Cyborg, which slashed through his cannon like it was made of tin foil. Cyborg yelled and kneeled down as the computers in his head screamed at him about the damage.

"What is this monster! What-AHHHH!" Starfire screamed as the monster thrust his left arm into the air and a green energy something or other thrust out of a hole in his palm and zipped up, wrapping around Starfire. She shrieked as she was pulled downward, her struggles not yielding any result, and before she knew it she was looking into the monster's burning red eyes.

"Aren't you a pretty one? I'll have fun with you." The monster said, licking his lips with a long phallic tongue. Starfire, for her sake, was still in the dark about a good many Earth things and hence did not catch the undertone in the monster's sentence that would have scared the hell out of any normal female.

"What are you?" Starfire said.

"Why, I'm a horny little devil, pretty-ARGH!" The monster yelled, finally indicating pain as Raven swooped down, telekinetically holding a large piece of broken glass she had smashed out of a window. She brought this huge shard down on the green thing that held Starfire, and though the force she brought it down with was so intense it gave her a headache from the effort, she still felt that the line of power had given BARELY. Starfire shrugged out of the energy line and flew back.

"Tactical retreat! Fall back!" Raven said, flying over and grabbing Robin, who was still trying to recover from his injury.

"Wait…" Robin said.

"We're not doing anything except getting ourselves killed! We slowed it down enough for the innocents to get away, so I say we retreat for the moment and work out a strategy!" Raven snapped at Robin. Robin didn't reply. Raven took that as acceptance as flew up to a nearby roof, Starfire following with Cyborg and Beast Boy as a bird.

"What the hell is that thing?" Cyborg said as he cracked open his arm and began effecting "battlefield medic" repairs on it. Raven set Robin down and placed her hand on his shoulder, gritting her teeth as she transferred the pain from his injury to her body, healing it in the process. How she managed to heal everyone after the Final Night battle, she had no idea.  She must have been in a special zone that day.

"Whatever it is, it's frikkin strong! It threw me aside like a toy!" Beast Boy said.

"That doesn't make it invincible." Robin growled.

"Oh Titans! Is that it? Cowards! Come down and die like men!" the monster was yelling down in the street.

"We aren't men yet." Beast Boy noted. Robin stood up and checked his newly healed arm, twisting the joint around to make sure everything worked.

"Thanks Raven. You ok?" 

"I'll live." Raven muttered.

"Ok Titans…" Robin said, and then again he was interrupted by a sudden loud noise. The Titans all jerked up in preparation for another attack, but this was just a door slamming open. The door leading from the building to the roof they were on, actually. As the Titans watched, a boy ran out of the door. He appeared to be in his late teens, and was also quite focused on his goal, as he didn't even notice the Titans as he ran to the roof edge and looked down on the yelling monster.

"Shit." The boy said, adjusting his glasses. He had light blonde hair and was rather lanky, a few steps away from having a body some people would call "beanpole". He was just dressed in jeans and a shirt that said "Creator" on the back, and he was holding a metal briefcase. He made an annoyed/fearful noise in his throat and turned away from the ledge, putting his back to the Titans as he opened the briefcase and examined something within.

"Dammit, still not fully charged. Where the hell are you Tim?" the boy said.

"Excuse me?" Robin said.

The boy jerked in surprise and then turned around. His eyes widened.

"GUYS! What the hell are you doing up here? Where's your armor! That Id is…Victor?" the boy said in some confusion. "What are you doing in your old body?"

"My what?" Cyborg said.

"Who are you? How do you know us?" Starfire said.

"What? What's going on? Does that Id have memory altering powers? It's me! Timothy! What's going on?" the boy named Timothy said.

"Guys." Raven said quietly.

"You tell me! What the hell, what old body? What's an Id? What the hell!" Cyborg yelled, waving his arms (apparently he'd managed to fix his cannon).

"GUYS." Raven repeated.

"I am getting a huge headache here." Beast Boy said.

"GUYS!" Raven yelled, and waved her arm as she used four minor telekinetic pushes to turn all the Titans' heads so they could see what she was seeing. They protested until they did see it, and again they fell silent.

The monster, which Timothy had called an Id, was no longer alone. The Titans were down there. All of them were in costume…except for Cyborg. In his place was a black teenager in slacks, a green shirt, and a letter jacket.

The thing was, the Titans had not left the roof. The Titans with the Monster/Id were this reality's Titans, who dove aside as the Id fired spikes at them.

"I'm…human…here I'm…human…" Cyborg whispered.

"What the…" Timothy said. If the rooftop Titans were confused, Timothy's head appeared about to explode. "How can you be down there…and up here…has Weltall…what…how…"

"Well…um…" Robin stammered, as he watched the Titans on the ground battle the Id, with the same results they had had. He tried to think of what to say when Raven stepped forward.

"We are not your Titans. We are the Titans from a different dimension. A foe from our dimension built a machine that let him cross timelines. It malfunctioned, and we have been thrown into your dimension. That is why we are in two places at once. Understand?" she said, calmly and matter of factly, as if she was discussing the weather. Timothy blinked.

"I see….I suppose I can accept that after all I've seen…whoa…" Timothy said. He looked over at the ground battle.

"That's not going to work. We tried that already. Everything we did just bounced off." Robin said. "Maybe we should help."

"No no Tim. They're just taking his measure. And that's just about done. Here…you have other techniques available to you." Timothy said.

"Like what?"

"Just watch."

Indeed, the Robin on the ground had just given a signal, and it appeared the Titans were removing something from individual pouches.

"Activate Redbird armor!"

The Robin on the ground slammed something into his chest, and with a bright flash was consumed. When it faded, the Titans on the roof looked a bit surprised and awed.

Robin's original costume had been replaced with a black one with a red mark running from his shoulder and down his back. The costume was slightly bulkier then his original outfit, but not by much.

"Activate Tamaran Battle armor!" Starfire said, as she placed something on her head. A flash, and she had her own suit of mechanized armor, a purple one similar to her usual costume with a helmet and shin guards thrown in.

"Activate Omegadrone mode!" 'Cyborg' said, as he pressed something in his hand. With a flash, the human Victor was gone, replaced with a gleaming gold robot. Rather then Cyborg's previous silver human/robot mix, this was a sexless android type with Victor's face and hair.

"Activate King of Beasts!" Beast Boy said. In a flash he had armor on his arms, legs, and chest, and a huge mechanized lion's head over his own head, his face peering out from behind a glass mask in the lion's mouth.

Raven didn't speak loud enough for the Titans on the roof to hear, and she seemed exasperated with the whole scene her teammates were making. She swirled her cloak, and with a flash her cloth cloak was transformed into a set of metallic black wings, as well as an armored raven's head.

"And that would be the Nevermore armor. Specially designed for you to fight the Ids, as you saw what happens when you try without them." Timothy said.

The Titans looked at Timothy, once again boggled, as the Titans on the ground renewed their attack. Timothy, meanwhile, was checking whatever was in his briefcase again. The noise he made indicated he was not pleased with what he had found as he stood up and looked at the Titans.

"You looked shocked."

"Dude, yeah." Beast Boy said, looking at his counterpart in his lion armour. You'd think one would look absurd in such an outfit, but somehow it worked. It even made Beast Boy look rather fearsome.

"Confused on how you became this way? Since I can't help at the moment, I'll you. Let's start at the beginning…." Timothy said.

Funny that the Titans had arrived in this reality due to time travel. For it was time travel that had resulted in the scene being played out before the Lost Titans. At least, that was the theory, as concrete facts were few and far between.

Supposedly, it had begun the future. 11,237 years in the future, to be exact (Though Timothy had to wonder if the date was being fudged to impress him). Human society had managed to survive that long, though it had gone up and down and up again due to the flaws of the human species. Having finally rebuilt a generally peaceful and fruitful society from the Dark Ages of a cataclysmic interstellar war, people were fearful that this would inevitably fall apart. The flaws in the human species tended towards destruction, after all.

So, people had tried to do something about it. Scientists had gotten together and begun with a theory: humans could be as bad as they could be because they were not fully evolved. Evolution took time, more time then humans had, and if their species wanted to avoid extinction, they would need to…speed up the process.

So work had begun on a device that would do just that. A machine that would link to a human host and make him as if he had evolved for another billion years. It would grant humans the closest thing to perfection they could ever achieve. The theory was that (hopefully) once this state was achieved, humans would beyond such petty things as hatred, fear, and bloodlust, and humanity would finally achieve an eternal utopia.

And if humans stayed the same no matter how long they lived or how advanced they got…well, then they were doomed to die anyway. May as well create a benchmark for the species before it went.

The process took nearly 100 years, involving generations of the best and brightest minds that humans had. Extraordinarily rigorous screening was used as well, as this device could do damage beyond comprehension if it wound up in the proverbial wrong hands. The people running the project knew that humans made mistakes, and they could only hope that they could avoid one as they worked.

And even with all the genius brought into play, it took 87 years before the scientists and their aids actually got somewhere concrete. But once they finally had a foothold, they moved fast.

And then what they had tried so hard to avoid happened: a mistake.

Its name was Dr. Weltall.

"Weltall came in at the tail end of the project, Only worked for four years on it. But they say that without him it would have taken twelve. He was a marvelous mind…and that is one place where I wonder. Did these people really make the mistake they were destined to make, being humans, or was Weltall so brilliant that he was able to fool all the screening tests and processes that had rooted out all the other bad seeds for decades? I don't know…but the latter one troubles me." Timothy said.

The Lost Titans were listening, though their eyes were on the Id battle, which had quickly become highly chaotic. As they watched, this world's Cyborg's gold arms flowed out and formed into a giant axe that it swung out, biting deeply into the Id's side. Greenish-white blood spewed onto the ground from the wound, and the Id roared and punched Omegadrone Cyborg. He flew backwards and crashed through a pillar, huge chunks of heavy stone falling on him. Beast Boy,  Starfire, and Cyborg himself gasped.

"Relax. You've taken worse." Timothy said. He checked his briefcase again, growled in his throat, and looked up as Redbird Robin hurled what looked like Birdarangs at the Id. Unlike Robin's though, these worked, biting deep into the wound that Omegadrone Cyborg had made. Drawing a long thin sword from behind her, TBA Starfire flew in and slashed at the monster's arm, nearly severing it. Blood poured onto the ground.

"I'll continue." Timothy said.

Dr. Weltall, as mentioned, was brilliant, and played a pivotal role in the final completion of the device. But unfortunately, he managed to keep his true motivation hidden all that time, as cliché as it was: he wanted the device for himself. Many theories had been written on what the device could do for a person, but most agreed that if a animal like a human could overcome a planet within roughly 15,000 years of granting the brain it had, a billion years may grant a human ability to rewrite reality itself. Hence the reason it was so closely guarded. It was not as if those precautions had failed: they had rooted out several bad apples during the project's duration. Weltall, as mentioned, was the mistake. But after so long without one, he was one hell of a mistake.

Fortunately, fate, or karma, or whatever ran things, decided to balance this as the device was finally finished. Weltall made his move then. He had disabled most of the security systems during his time there, including ones he wasn't supposed to know about. But he failed to shut off one. A chronological defense (oh yes, time travel had been discovered, but doing it was insanely difficult and forbidden due to paradoxes) that was designed to toss the device back to the very beginning of time, the first microsecond of the Big Bang, which would destroy it.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. Random factors again conspired, as Weltall's attempts to gain the device had damaged key elements of various machines. Weltall got his hands on part of the device, but the other part was caught up in the chronological defense and hurled into the past. But the machine shorted out, and instead of the Big Bang, the device ended up in Jump City.

And there everything began.

"You found it." Robin said, as KOB Beast Boy did a masterful jumping kick that ripped open the Id even more (apparently this world's Beast Boy had taken the time to learn some martial arts).

"Indeed." Timothy said, as he lifted the briefcase up and opened it.

It really didn't look like much. Indeed, it looked more like a sleeker VR helmet, carefully nested inside the cushioned inside of the briefcase.

"Yeah, I know. It looks silly. But inside this thing is technology beyond any man's understanding…and power…" Timothy said.

"I found this in an alleyway I was using to take a shortcut home from school. I thought it was a discarded video game system at first. I went to the house of a friend of mind, his name's Nicholas, he's good with tools. I thought he could fix it up and maybe sell it on Ebay for a few bucks. But he couldn't find an opening or a screw or anything, so I took a look, and in the process put it on…" Timothy said. "The fact that I didn't die was a miracle. Not only considering what the device could do, but the fact that I had no idea IT COULD DO THAT. Nicholas insists that it was meant to be that way, I just think it was a stroke of luck that used up all the luck my bloodline will have for the next thousand years."

"So that's the device that allows…?" Robin said.

"No. This is only half the device. Weltall…got his hands on the other half. And while the device wasn't complete, what he got still…well, I don't want to think of what he did to his civilization. But that is beside the point. The point is, Weltall couldn't settle for it. He had wanted the whole device, and he wouldn't stop until he got it. So he ripped open his own portal in time, and headed out after it, ending up here. Fortunately, since he only has half of the device, such a task drained him, and he had to rest. If he hadn't, he probably would have found the other part, the helmet here, and well, need I say more?" Timothy said.

"So what does that have to do with that monster? You called it an Id." Raven said. The battle was still going on, and the monster's blood was everywhere.

"Why isn't that thing dead?" Beast Boy said.

"Id's are very hard to kill. I'll explain why if…shit." Timothy said, checking something on the helmet. "You want to hear more? You may not like it."

"We'll live with it." Raven said.

"Ok then. So Weltall found himself in Jump City. It didn't take him long to track me down. Weltall's part of the device allows him to manipulate reality into any shape or form he wishes. Fortunately, since the device isn't complete, he can't do something catastrophic like turning the world on its axis and reversing it's magnetic poles without killing himself. But he can do plenty of damage none the less…" Timothy said. "But he ran into a problem. He couldn't take the helmet from me. You see, when I put it on, it bonded with me. It's programming won't match up with the programming of Weltall's device. The only way to reprogram it was to kill me. The bastard nearly killed Nicholas, put him in a wheelchair, and he would have certainly killed me as well had I not discovered the own unique talent of the helmet. I won't go into details, but our respective devices canceled each other out. Weltall COULDN'T take the helmet from me. This, needless to say, angered him, and he withdrew. But he wasn't done. He knew that he had to kill me to take the helmet, and he couldn't do it himself. And that, my dear other Titans, are how the Id's came to be."

Timothy checked the helmet again. His growl was louder this time.

"Problem?" Robin said.

"This device needs to charge up between uses. I had a particularly vicious Id battle a few days ago, helmet is still recharging. Thought it would be done by now, blast."

"How did WE get involved? And how am I human?" Cyborg said.

"You're not going to like it." Timothy said.

"Tell us anyway!"

"Fine. But first I have to explain the Id's. Like I said, Weltall can't take the device from me himself. But someone else could. So Weltall decided to try an experiment. And hence was created The Id's. Anyone want to know where the name comes from?"

"Freud?" Robin ventured.

"Correct Tim. By the way, we share the same name, which caused some confusion at first. In general, they call you Tim, I go by Timothy." Timothy said. "Getting back on track. Weltall creates an Id by finding a certain individual that has his or her own problem, or obsession, or deviance, and he uses his device to manifest that person as an absolute of their own particular flaw. Most people do this willingly, but he has done it against people's wills as well."

"Willingly? Why?" Starfire said.

"They're human. Weltall is offering them great power and a chance to let themselves go, for lack of a better term. What none of them realize is that once you become an Id, YOU ARE NO LONGER YOU. Your personality ceases to exist. You become the absolute manifestation of whatever Weltall awoke in you. You have no restraint, no control, and no ability to reason. You almost become a force of nature, only doing what your manifestation wants. Did that Id say anything to you when you spoke to him?"

"He called himself a horny little devil." Starfire said. Robin looked alarmed at that.

"Dammit. I'll bet dollars to donuts that's Kenneth Penny." Timothy said.

"Who's that?"

"He's in one of my classes. Kenneth was the stereotypical nerd, almost, and it frustrated him. He's been trying for the past two years to get an attractive woman to like him. It had gone badly, for the most part, and lots of people made fun of him for it. I thought he might be a problem, but I didn't think it was bad enough for Weltall to turn him into an Id…damn it. Damn you to hell, you bastard." Timothy said. "Well, as you can see, Weltall appreciates metaphor. That and he's a megalomaniac sadist. He used his device to manifest Kenneth's anger and sexual frustration into the form you see. The nicer ones called Kenneth a horny little devil. Now he literally is one. A being of pure angry lust."

The Lost Titans were silent, even as the Titans battled on, the Kenneth-Id continuing to prove highly resilient and stubborn.

"It's why he's still fighting despite all the damage your fellows have inflicted. His being was born of anger. Pain makes him angry. As a result, despite the wounds, he keeps fighting. It's why Ids are so hard to beat. Most of them are born of some kind of rage, and fighting just makes it worse. A vicious cycle."

"And us?" Starfire said. Timothy looked unhappy.

"There used to be seven of you. Besides the other yous, there was a guy called Savior…" (Timothy did not notice the shocked looks, as he was looking at his helmet again) "…and a girl called Terra. You all ran into Weltall's first Id…a being manifested from a psychopathic rapist. It…I don't want to talk about it. It did something…horrid…to Terra…Savior and her were in a relationship, and he went nuts…but it didn't save him. The Id killed him. Snapped him into pieces like a twig. You all would have died had I not seen it on the news and tried to help. I stopped it…but it was too late to save Terra or Savior. Savior, Noel, was dead, and Terra's mind was broken. She never woke up, and quietly slipped into death a month later in the hospital. I can't blame her…" Timothy said. "I wish I could have done more…"

"Don't dwell on your failings. You tried. That's really all we could ask." Robin said. Raven and Beast Boy didn't look like they agreed though.

"I could have done more. But you see, my part of the device…I can't do anything to anyone else with it. That's what Weltall can do. He can change anything…except himself. I, on the other hand, can only change myself. That's why I have to beat Weltall. We have to get the device. I have to complete it, so I can try and make amends for what he's done. So that's what we do here. Weltall sneaks out of the shadows, makes an Id, and we stop it. And again. And again. Weltall's a crafty foe. But I know he craves the power that the completed device will grant him, I know he will get impatient, I KNOW, just like those men in the future, that he will make a mistake. And so I fight. With you. And that's my story." Timothy said.

"What about me?" Cyborg said.

"Oh yes. As I mentioned, Id's are extremely tough. As you were, you couldn't even dent them. But we got some luck. Another doctor, guy called Peregrine (Writer's Note: Only three readers will get that joke, but those three will love me for it), his daughter was killed by an Id. He swore to help us, and he has. While he's a genius himself, even he can't understand the technology inside this helmet, but he had been able to modify tiny bits of it. He used it to build those armor suits you see, and after you got royally smashed up in a fight, Victor, he used an experimental technique from his studies to clone you a new body and download your brain into it. He then linked it to the android form you see, the Omegadrone, and allowed you switch your mind between bodies when needed. You'll have to ask him how he did it, I don't know… "

The helmet beeped. Timothy looked down on it, a slight satisfied smile on his face.

"FINALLY." He said, taking the helmet out. "I have to go guys."

"We understand." Robin said. "Go kick his ass."

"I'd rather save him." Timothy said, as he attached strange wires to his neck and back, wincing as they did something he didn't like. He took the helmet and looked at it. 

"You know, I don't know what they called this device, what technical name it had, but I call it the Imagination Engine. When I wear it, for a moment I feel like I can accomplish anything, that nothing is beyond me. Under harsh light this is proven false, but hope springs eternal."

Timothy began lowering the helmet carefully.

"You have a name?" Cyborg asked.

"The IE grants me power that is only limited by my creativity. So yes. I am the Warrior Born From Whim. I am…the Imagiknight!"

The helmet slipped over Timothy's head, and he muttered something. Only Robin caught it, the word "Blader."

And then the same light that had ignited when the Titans had changed into their armor, except magnified by the power of ten, consumed the rooftop. Down on the ground, the armored Titans stopped as they saw the luminescence flare up.

"About time Timothy." Redbird Robin said.

The light faded, and the Titans blinked back spots as they looked at what Timothy had become, his brain commanding the Imagination Engine to recreate him in a new chosen image. A lanky body had gotten two extra inches and about 75 extra pounds of muscle. Fancy colored gear that looked like a combination of battle gear and extreme sports protection bedecked his body, and on his back were four sheaths holding four different swords. On his legs were sheaths were knives above futuristic looking rollerblades. He even had a helmet now, from which a large rainbow-colored mohawk protruded.

Timothy, or rather, The Blader, reached into his pocket and withdrew fancy sunglasses which he slipped on.

"See you around Titans."

And The Blader turned and rolled across the roof at great speed, leaping up. The Titans goggled as he leapt off the roof onto the nearby telephone wires and actually grinded on them, like he was in a Tony Hawk video game. He leapt off the wires and hit a wall, rolling down at an angle for a second before he flipped off and landed near the Id, the wheels on his skates retracting just before he hit and then popping out again as he stood up, unsheathing a katana and scimitar.

"I don't suppose you'll believe this is for your own good?" The Blader said.

The Kenneth-Id responded with a roar and fired spikes at The Blader. Timothy dodged easily and zipped over, slashing open the side of the Id. As he zipped past Starfire swooped down as her armor shifted over her hands and then she fired twin supercharged Starbolts that blew the Id off its feet as well as blowing chunks of flesh all over the place.

But, fueled by the huge amounts of anger that Kenneth Penny had repressed, the Id fought on, as it bellowed and flexed its body. Spikes fired off from it, blasting out in a wide radius that knocked Starfire from the sky and smashed down the attacking Robin and Cyborg.

"That's it. For the Transfans, Beast Mode!" Beast Boy yelled, and then his body shifted as he became a lion. As he did, the armor snapped over, covering more parts of him as he charged. He leapt onto the Id's back and used the mechanized lion's head to bite deep, ripping out a huge chunk of the Id's back. The Id screamed, and then grabbed Beast Boy with the green energy grabbing thing and hurled him into a wall, the whole side of a building collapsing down on him.

The Blader zipped past the Id, as Timothy flipped and hurled six knives at it, impaling the blades around its face. It yelped and clawed at its eyes as Beast Boy emerged from the wreckage looking a bit battered but generally all right. He was joined by Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire, as they charged in with swords, claws, and other weapons.

"I've still got a trick, and it's quite shocking!" The Id said, as more spikes emerged from its body, and then fired from its chest. The spikes struck the ground in front of the Titans, and then the Id raised it's right arm and fired blasts of electricity out of his palm, which struck the spikes and made them explode in the Titans' face, throwing them all back and down as they fell to the ground.

"Ha! What do you think of that!" The Id said.

"I think they think your pun was worse then your attack."

The Id barely got a change to reply as Nevermore Raven appeared out the shadows next to the Id as she slashed one of the wing/cloak/blades down, severing the Id's right arm in a great gush of blood. The monster's scream of pain was so high it shattered windows, and made Lost Titan Beast Boy clamp his hands down on his ears.

The Blader dashed from the smoke of the Id's electrical explosion, rolling up to the Id, and leaping as he slashed the wheels of the rollerblades themselves up across the Id's face, ripping the eyes apart. The Id squealed as it was blinded, as the Blader rolled back to the clearing smoke cloud, where the Titans were getting up.

"He's pretty tough." Cyborg said.

"Yeah. I think we may need a custom form Timothy." Robin said.

"Already on it." The Blader said as he reached up and pressed a nearly invisible button on the side of his helmet. "Beginning creation."

"Won't…lose…kill you all…" The Id said.

"That's not how you feel, Kenneth. Believe me, this is better." The Blader said. "ACTIVATE!"

Again the gigantic surge of light, and when it cleared the Blader was gone. Now there was a man in white cloth clothes, golden blonde hair, and a pair of white feathery wings.

"You're a horny little devil? Well then, I'm an angel. And I think you're more blasphemous then myself in this form." The new Angel Imagiknight form said as it drew a flaming sword from the sheath on its side. "Let's end this!"

The wings pumped, and Timothy flew forward, slashing his flaming sword up and to the left, slicing a giant wound and severing the monster's left arm from the forearm. Fortunately the flaming blade cauterized the wound, which kept the blood from spraying all over the Angel's nice white outfit. Timothy flew back as the monster sagged, blood pouring down onto the ground.

"I think it's weak enough." Robin said.

"You're right." Timothy said as he flexed his wings, stretching them out around the Titans. They began to glow with a powerful white light.

"Purify." The Angel said.

The light fired from the Angel's wings and struck the Id, and it screamed, ironically, to the heavens as the light pierced through the monster and out the other side.

With something. The light flew on, and eventually stopped, leaving a short and slightly chubby man naked and wet on the ground, unconscious. The Id's flesh sagged even more, the host it was born of freed. The Angel lowered his wings and watched.

"Still some fight in it. Finish it guys."

"Titans…" Robin said, as he pulled a laser cannon from a sheath on his leg. Cannons formed over Starfire and Beast Boy's right and both arms, while Cyborg formed one on his chest and Raven just held out her hand. "FIRE!"

Seven blasts shot forth, and the Id was consumed with a giant explosion as the remaining flesh was blown to oblivion. The Titans put their weapons away, and one almost expected them to pose. But they didn't.

Timothy flew over to check on Kenneth's form.

"He's alive." He said. Starfire flew over, draping a blanket around the naked man, as the smoke cleared. All that left of the Id was a small pile of smoking flesh that was dissolving into ash.

"Whoa." Beast Boy on the roof said, doing his best Keanu Reeves impression. "That was intense."

"And strangely derivative, though I can't put my finger on just what…" Raven said.

"All right Robin, should we introduce ourselves, or shall we let Timothy do it?" Cyborg said.

"I think…" Robin said, and then his eyes caught something.

Another figure, on another roof, looking down on the battlefield. Though the distance was too great to make out any features besides black hair and a black and red outfit, the crossed arms of the figure indicated a certain feeling. The figure was…unhappy.

"Well well." Robin said. "Look who came to take a look."

"And that would be Weltall?" Beast Boy said.

"Yes." Raven said, suddenly angry. "Would anyone like to go over and say hello?"

"I wouldn't mind." Cyborg said.

"My friends, that could be very dangerous. Weltall commands great power, and if we could barely harm one of his creations…" Starfire said.

"We're not gonna fight him. We'll just distract him enough to let Tim and the other us' come over here for a chat." Robin said as he snapped out his staff. "Any man who kills a Titan is our enemy, regardless of timeline."

"I couldn't agree more." Raven hissed, an uncharacteristic sound.

"Titans, go!" Robin said, and the group charged.

Weltall pushed the always too long bangs of his black hair back. No one could ever get his hair the right way in this time. One of many small aggravations that plagued him. He lowered his arm, which was encased in what looked like, to the first time viewer, a fancier version of the old Nintendo Power Glove, an outfit that traveled up his arm and around his chest. But looks aside, this device had the ability to bring entire worlds to their knees in the blink of an eye. Or at least it would if that bloody kid didn't have the other part of it.

Well, it was just a matter of time. The sins and flaws of humanity were endless. One day Weltall would create something that would finally rip the life from his body. And then, the universe was his.

Then again, maybe this one would do it yet. Weltall had a new technique he was dying to try, and now was as good a time as any. He wasn't wholly sure what it would do, but whatever it was, it would surely be bad for the Titans and their semi-leader, the Imagiknight.

"Hey!"

Weltall blinked. Had the Titans seen him? No, they were attending to the stupid oversexed loser that Weltall had transformed. So who had…

"WELTALL!"

Weltall glanced to the side, and then his head jerked abruptly as he saw the source of the noise. The Titans were running towards him. What the…?

Weltall looked down on the ground. The Titans were still there! What was going on!

Then his noise suddenly filled with an overpowering smell. Ozone. Weltall looked back at the roof…

Nothing. There was nothing there. At least not now. For while Weltall had looked back at the ground to see if the Titans had made it up onto the roof, the Titans had been lifted up and then disappeared as the dimensional tear consumed them once more, taking them away. But Weltall didn't know that.

"What in the…" Weltall said. He was confused, and that made him mad. He hated not being on top of things. Was he seeing things now? Maybe he needed to get more sleep.

"Hey! Up there!"

This voice came from the ground. Weltall's lip curled in distaste. While he was distracted by whatever that vision had been, the real Titans had seen him. Annoyed, he saw the boy look up, and for a moment they locked eyes.

That was it, then. The teenagers could move extremely fast when they wanted, and if he hung around they'd be up here in a second to add to his aggravations. He guessed he would have to test his Heart of Darkness on another Id. Oh well.

"Weltall!" the kid was yelling, flapping his wings. With a sigh, Weltall waved his arm as the roof beneath cracked off and lifted him up as he floated on a piece.

"Another day children." Weltall said, and then he was gone, commanding the rock he had levitated to take him away at great speeds.

Timothy Trevor snorted in anger and flew back down to his teammates. The Titans were getting out of their armor now, and sirens could be heard in the distance: Cyborg must have sent the authorities his "all-clear" signal. Timothy pressed a button on his headband, and after a brief flash he was back to normal as he removed the Imagination Engine from his head.

"Weltall got away again. But he's got to be getting frustrated. He'll slip up eventually." Timothy said. _I hope. He added mentally._

"Hey, who yelled?" Cyborg, or rather Victor Stone, said. "The only reason we saw Weltall was because I heard yelling. But Weltall wouldn't give away his position. So who yelled?"

"I…" Timothy began, and then stopped.

It would have been the other Titans, the Lost Titans. But Timothy hadn't seen them. Where had they gone? They had spoken of a malfunctioning time travel device that had brought them there. Had it continued to break down, taking them away?

And if so, why tell his friends about it? It would just confuse them. Some of them worried about his use of the Imagination Engine, that it would eventually cause his brain to melt down from tapping powers his current evolutionary body was never meant to tap. Telling them he had spoken to an alternate group of them, one with no Imagiknight, Weltall, or Ids…

No. He'd keep that to himself. It wasn't important.

This time.

"I don't know guys. I didn't see anyone. Must have been a passerby. Let's get Kenneth settled and head back to the tower. I could use a brownie."

And so they did. The fate of the world still undecided, and still one day possibly fated to be in the hands of a lunatic that would remake it in his image. Who knew?

Only time would tell.

Next: I have seen the future…and it is… 


	4. Future ImPerfect

Chapter 4: Future (Im)Perfect

The roof was strangely trash free, so nothing was whipped into the air when reality split open and dumped the Titans onto it. This time, everyone but Cyborg managed to land well, and Cyborg's body absorbed the impact to the point where it didn't bother him much.

"Man, that blows. We could have had Weltall." Beast Boy said.

"Could have had him turn us inside out with a gesture. I'm kind of glad we got pulled away. Let Timothy and the other Titans handle him, they know what they're doing." Cyborg said as he got up.

Raven muttered something.

"What?" Cyborg said.

Raven didn't reply, turning away.

"What did she say?" Cyborg said.

"I think she called you a cat." Starfire replied.

"Oh well then…HEY! WAIT A SECOND!" Cyborg yelled, realizing what Raven may have just muttered. He was going to counter when Robin gave him a hard glare that spoke volumes.

_Give her a break. She's still new with emotions, plus we were just in a world where Noel was murdered. Our world or not, that affects you._

"This city has a nice cleaning system." Raven noted. The Titans looked out.

"Whoa." Beast Boy said.

It was still Jump City, there were a few buildings the Titans recognized. But it looked like Metropolis did in the Lost Titans timeline, an endless run of shining spires.

"Well well well." Robin said, pleased. "Looks like whatever version of us that runs this place does a damn good job." Or maybe Brainiac 13 had attacked Jump City instead of Metropolis, who knew.

"Shall we try and find them?" Starfire said. "Perhaps they can aid us."

"I don't know." Raven said. "We may vanish before we find them, and most likely before they can figure out a way to help us."

"Indeed, and also, we really have to stop getting involved. First we had to beat up our predecessors, and then we got beat up by that Id. I say we stay here, brainstorm, and try not to get involved with anything unless we absolutely have to." Robin said.

"But dude! Look at the city! Dare I say it, OUR city! This place could be our legacy! How many people get to see what their efforts have done, what their sacrifices have led to? I say that if we're doomed to keep flipping from time to time forever, we should at least take a look!" Beast Boy protested.

"I know Gar. It would be nice. But dare I say it, we don't have the time, so to speak, for it. We stay here unless we cannot avoid it." Robin said.

"HELP ME!" A yell came. Robin's eyes widened, then narrowed, and then he briefly glanced at the sky.

"This isn't funny, you know!" he said. The Titans didn't ask who he was speaking to.

"Well Fearless?" Cyborg said.

"Not getting involved and turning our back on someone who may need help are two different things! Titans, go!" Robin said, and the Titans headed for the cry.

Much like Metropolis, a superb set of architecture for a city does not mean it has a more advanced species living in it. Humans are humans. And even though the alleyway the young man was running down was clean and freshly painted instead of grimy and garbage strewn, it was still an alleyway. A dead end alleyway.

The biker gang that had chased him down was known as the Loners, and actually did not belong to Jump City. They had originally been formed and based in a far fouler town known as Bludhaven, a former whaling town that existed and lived off the scraps of nearby Gotham. The Loners had fit right in, until recently, when the vigilante Nightwing and his group, the Outsiders, had set up a base there and attacked the festering city's sins en masse. Bludhaven, once the proverbial haven for scum, was rapidly becoming much like Jump City was. The Loners wanted nothing of that, so they had left.

Ironically, they had ended up in Jump City, and had regarded it as a plum prize. It rather reminded the second in command biker of the futuristic city in the movie _Demolition Man_, a society that had tried to embrace peace so hard they had become dangerously pacifist. There was little crime, thanks to the Teen Titans and their successors. But the Loners had heard that the T-Tower was closed down, the Titans disbanded and scattered to the winds, and that the police had grown soft over time. A town like that would be like taking candy from a baby for a group like the Loners.

Whether what the Loners believed and reality meshed was another thing. What mattered was that the leader, a man known as Rammer, had seen something he wanted. His nickname came from his long stretch in prison, which had left him as what was known as a "bull queer", a man who was not so much homosexual as one who derived pleasure from violating men (the ways that prison can warp a man could fill a dozen books and is really not something that should or will be discussed here). Rammer and his group had been heading into town when the young man whom they had now trapped had passed by. Rammer, in the mindset that men like him have, decided he wanted him. And so here we are.

Rammer, in what some might consider a rarity, was clean shaven, but the rest of him fit the biker profile, from the jeans/leather/bandanna outfit from the beer belly afflicted body that hid a great (and terrible strength) as he stopped his bike, his mates spreading out to prevent an escape.

"Please don't hurt me." The young man pleaded.

"Sorry kid. You chose to run. Running just makes me hungrier." Rammer said as he got off his bike.

"Please, I'll give you anything! Just don't!"

"Anything?"

"Yes! No! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"Are you boys fighting?"

The sudden new voice, a female's, caught the attention of Rammer. He stopped, and turned around to look at the speaker.

You would think it was Starfire or Raven. It wasn't. They were up on the roof with the rest of the Titans, looking down onto the alleyway. They had just been about to attack when Robin had stopped them, pointing out the female who had appeared at the end of the alleyway.

And really, she was hard to miss. First of all, there was her hair. One side of her head was completely shaved, while the other side was grown out and hung over her left eye in a long white veil. Her hands were in her pockets of her long leather black trench coat, hiding everything except the tips of black boots. She cocked her head a bit, letting her hair slide aside to reveal her other eyes, which had a strange light purple color. Above one eye was a piercing through her eyelid.

"Because if you are, you really should pick on someone your own size. I know, that's not how life usually works, but you're just proving your own weakness by sticking to that stereotype." The girl said.

"Who is that?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't recognize her. Do you Robin?"

"She's not ringing a bell…but…" Robin said.

"But what?" Starfire said.

"Should we help her?" Raven asked.

"Let's see what she does first." Robin says. Rammer was smirking.

"Well well. My boys don't share my particular tastes, but now they get something as well. Have fun guys." Rammer said. Sharing their leader's smirk, the bikers moved forward. The girl in the trench coat shook her head.

"Never changes. Tell me guys, ever heard of the Teen Titans?"

"They're gone. They won't save you." One of the bikers said.

"Wrong tense buddy. They WERE gone. Have I mentioned that they're reforming? Did I mention I used to be with them?"

The bikers stopped at that, a bit confused. The girl observed them without worry.

"Oh, don't recognize me? I suppose that's allowed. I gave my look a serious overhaul to set myself apart from my parents. They have quite a reputation to live up to, but I try."

"Ignore her you idiots! She's just a girl!"

"You know, that was what Jack said before he fell to his death. You're just a girl. Maybe so…"

The girl removed her hands from her pockets, and suddenly the colors in her jacket swirled and went from faded black to bright, searing white. At the same time, she twisted her arms, and twin lengths of chain, hidden somewhere in her outfit, slid down her arm, clattering at her feet.

"But that's just what I am. Not who I am. Recognize me now?" the girl said. Up on the roof, the Titans all goggled at the girl's color change, and then they all looked at Raven, who looked back and suddenly blushed furiously.

"We haven't even…!" she stammered.

"Not in OUR timeline anyway." Cyborg said, and looked back down.

"I SAID GET HER!" Rammer yelled.

"Fine. Names for later. Words for now. AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!" the girl yelled, as her chains became encased in black energy and floated up. The bikers stopped dead.

"You always do that." The girl said, and lashed her right arm to the side, the chain flying out and wrapping around the group of bikers before smashing them all into the wall.

Cursing, various bikers got up and attacked with pipes, knives, and their own chains, but it was clear they were overmatched to the extreme. A cracking blow to the side of the head brought one biker down, and the second slashed at the girl only to have her duck down and snap her leg up in a scorpion kick, knocking him senseless. The next two had the chains wrapped around their legs and tossed ass over elbows backwards, landing on their heads. The next one simply got kicked in the balls and then picked up with one hand, aided by a telekinetically controlled chain, and tossed into the wall.

That left only Rammer, and one last biker who had gotten up (to a degree), and was fumbling at the side of his bike. With a look of triumph, he pulled out a shotgun.

The girl didn't even look at him. Instead she focused on the bike, and her eyes flashed.

The bike flew up and slammed against the shotgun toting biker, crushing him against the wall. The shotgun flew away as he collapsed, beaten.

"Always." The girl said, as she headed towards Rammer. Rammer snapped out of the shock of seeing all his friends, his _brothers_, manhandled by some teenage girl with magical chains, and bellowing, he pulled out a large hunting knife.

"That too. Remember my name yet?"

"BITCH!" Rammer roared, and started to charge.

He didn't even see the chains, as it smacked him across the face, darted around and disarmed him, and then wrapped around his waist and yanked him forward. And that was just one chain. While it was doing that, the girl had stood still as she twirled the other one, wrapping it around her right hand.

"Wrong again." She said as Rammer flew forward. As he closed in, she drew back her fist and smashed it into Rammer's face so hard he did a 560 degree flip before he hit the ground, dead to the world.

The girl unwrapped the chain from around her hand, and then shook it vigorously.

"Ow. Damn punks. I'm going to have to ask Uncle Bart if there's a gene for thick skulls."

"Uncle Bart?" Robin thought out loud. _Is she talking about Impulse?_

"You ok kid?" the girl was saying.

"Thank you, thank you…" the young man cried.

"Hey, whoa whoa, don't blubber all over the coat. Its expensive." The girl said, holding back the man from hugging her. "Just doing what comes naturally. Now, you got a cell phone?"

"Yeah."

"Then call it in."

"Ok!" the man said, as he pulled out a phone and began dialing it. Meanwhile, the girl arranged the bikers in a neat line along the walls, using a spare chain she had somewhere in her jacket to tie them up.

"Cops on their way?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. Press charges. And if the Young, Dumb and Uglies try and intimidate you into not doing so, just tell them that the Titans follow the system, and if anything happens to you, we'll come pay them another visit they won't walk away from."

"Um, ok…but…um…"

The girl looked at him wryly, her hair falling over her eye again.

"Please tell me you know who I am."

"I just moved here!" the young man said. The girl snorted.

"Fine then. Name's Myth. Now stay out of trouble, ok?" Myth replied, and then she tossed a chain upward. The man didn't even get to reply as Myth flew up to the roof.

Barely avoiding landing on the Titans, who had seen her coming and scattered, hiding behind a stairwell.

Myth started running, but suddenly slowed down and stopped. She looked around.

"Mom?" she said.

Behind the stairwell, the Titans started, and then looked at Raven. She waved her arms in a "What do you want ME to do?" way.

"Mom? Are you here? I can feel your essence…Mom?" Myth said, looking around. She headed for the stairwell.

"Ahhhhhh now what do we do…" Beast Boy whispered.

Myth was almost there when her nostrils filled with the smell of ozone, and she blinked. Then she started walking again.

There was nothing behind the stairwell. Myth looked puzzled. She could have sworn she had sensed her mother nearby. Maybe she had imagined it?

Oh well, if it kept happening she would just make enquiries to Tim. If she could get him away from his exploits down in Gotham with his wife….

Raven didn't land well this time as the Titans were again dumped into a new reality. She was just too floored, pardon the pun. First a universe where Noel was dead, and now one where she and Noel had a child together! A punk girl, at that!

"Raven? Are you ok?" Starfire said, swooping over.

"I don't know if I'll ever be ok again. Looking at possibilities is more draining then one would believe." Raven said.

"Yeah, but hey, good one Raven! I'm glad that somewhere you and Noel worked out and…were…happy…" Beast Boy trailed off as he looked around.

The Titans were in a room, if it could be called that. The place was a gutted, ruined mess, with nothing that looked in one piece or in a normal shape. But as bad as it was, it couldn't top what was outside, an outside the Titans could see through one whole side of the room that had fallen away.

Maybe it was Jump City. Maybe it wasn't Jump City. It was impossible to tell from the destroyed landscape. Nothing stood any more, and there were large craters where there was nothing but scorched Earth.

"….Dude, I liked the last one better. Can we go back there?" Beast Boy pleaded. Again, the Titans didn't ask who he was speaking to.

"Oh my god…oh _tymahwyu__ wregtapluj…" Starfire said, her hands on her face and her eyes filled with horror, the shock so great she slipped back into her native tongue._

Nothing moved in the wreckage. There wasn't even any wind. The sky was filled with black clouds that covered everything in a pallid gloom.

The place was extinct.

"Something happened here…" Robin said. "But…what exactly…"

"Guys..." Beast Boy said. "I recognize the walls here."

The Titans looked at him. He didn't add anything. Instead, he turned into a bird and flew out. The Titans watched, and then Starfire grabbed Cyborg and Robin and followed, Raven by their side, as they flew over to where Beast Boy was and turned around.

It was the T-Tower. Somehow, that building had kept its shape, even as a ruined, gutted wreck. Strangely, there was no water around the building: the ocean was gone, replaced only by more black, scorched earth.

"Our home…our city…" Starfire said.

"I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count on who did this." Raven said.

"Guys, I just detected some movement." Cyborg said. "A room a few floors lower then the one we came out into. What should we do?"

"If there's a survivor…maybe if he or she is near us they'll flip with us. Or…I don't know…" Robin said. He thought he had seen destruction. He had been wrong. What he had seen before was just tragedy. What he saw now was the death of hope.

Though he gave no order, the Titans followed one anyway, carefully flying over to where Victor had pointed. They landed inside the closest room to where Cyborg had seen the movement, the floor shifting under their feet. Being very careful, they began sneaking out…

A loud wracking cough made them nearly suffer a group heart attack. It came from a room down the burned and crumbling hallway. The Titans recovered and headed there, carefully sneaking over to the door.

Beast Boy glanced into the room and nearly fainted dead away. The Titans didn't get a chance to ponder his face getting bone white until they had glanced and see it as well.

The man inside was sitting so that his side was to the door. It was Beast Boy. Or rather, Beast Man now, perhaps.

But Garfield Logan hadn't just grown up. He was as much a ruin as the building he was in. His outfit, which had perhaps once been white and purple, was now torn to shreds and so dirty one could barely tell what the original color was. His green fur was matted with dirt and patches of it were missing, exposing dull grey skin. A long scar cut across his cheek and down his neck. Worse of all, his left arm was missing. The outfit he wore was halfheartedly tied up to keep the empty sleeve away.

The Titans didn't know what to do, and Older Gar didn't seem to notice them. Instead, he was picking up a pen, and then he resumed writing what he had been writing. Strangely, as he did, he spoke aloud, as if trying to convince himself he was putting the words down on paper. His voice was a bit strange, slightly off in a way that Robin couldn't put his finger on.

"Perhaps we should have known the inevitable when Clark fell last year, but we fought on regardless. Bruce bought us some time with his plans, but the Lord eventually found him and proverbially crushed him underfoot. Bruce fought to the end though. Seeing a human go up against such a force as the Lord was inspiring, as much as his defeat showed the futility of his efforts."

"That was, for all intents and purposes, it…"

As Older Gar wrote on, the Titans slowly snuck into the room. Though, if you asked the Titans at that time WHY they were doing that, they would have had no answer to give you.

"We don't even have enough troops to mount an offense to be deemed laughable. The Lord has destroyed all our solar talents, his power ultimately crushing those who tried to exploit his weakness. Indeed, I will not lie about what has been planned: it is suicide. A pointless suicide, as only a miracle could allow us to defeat the Lord. And this world ran out of miracles a long time ago."

"I do not know who will find this, and even if it is found if it will be understood. I do not care. All my friends are dead. Some died in ways so terrible I have blocked them out. I have lost virtually everything that made me who I was when the Lord ascended, and I can never have it back. I cannot mourn my loss. I have no more tears."

"But, know this. We tried. In the end, we all tried. It is all we could do. We are not gods like the Lord, but men and women, creatures noble and terrible at once. All of us know that once we are gone, we will be forgotten, our efforts reduced to nothing, our civilization usurped by a being that can never understand, or even stand, humanity. I have resigned myself to this, ending with this entry."

"But there is one thing we will not do. It may be suicide, and hopeless, and POINTLESS, but we will not go quietly into the night."

"But this is one day we cannot save. I do not ask for forgiveness. Just understanding."

"Sincerely,

Garfield Logan, aka Changeling, aka Beast Boy."

Older Gar set down his pen.

"You won, didn't you?"

The Titans, standing together, puzzled over the last sentence, and then realized Older Gar was talking to them.

He didn't seem to indicate it though. He just looked on ahead, even as he closed the book he was writing in and placed it in the warped desk, as if encountering a younger version of himself and his friends was an everyday thing.

The Titans did not reply. There were no words they could have said.

"Know this." Older Gar went on. "Enjoy every day you have. You have no idea how much you can find in the average day until it is gone. Perhaps this is a lesson you cannot fully understand until you suffer it, but it is true, and I will tell you anyway. All the pain you suffer, all the wrongs you endure, all the flaws in living that make you lament it in any way, shape, or form…know this. In the grand scheme of things, there is worse."

Older Gar turned to look at them.

Beast Boy opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out, at the sight of the other side of Older Gar's face, the flesh like a melted candle, the skin and muscle and bone all fused into a horrific tableau that seemed to throb like a beating heart, a wound that had consumed some of Older Gar's mouth, causing his voice to sound strangely off…

"Much, much worse."

And then reality blurred before Beast Boy's eyes, and in a few seconds the Titans were gone.

Gar Logan blinked his one remaining eye, wondering if he had hallucinated what he had seen, or been granted some small notion of comfort in the fact that somewhere, he would do better.

But in the end he didn't care.

So Gar Logan went and joined with the last metahumans and humans to stand against the Lord.

And as he had predicted, they all died. Sometimes, you cannot save the day.

But perhaps fate kept the defeat from being totally wrenching. For the Lord, despite his victory, had lost the war. His dream of a perfect world was beyond him as all life had died in the war he had waged. He was the ruler of an empire composed of one, trapped on a planet he could not leave for the way the light of the stars harmed him, a god ultimately only in his own mind.

Until he figured out how to create life.

But let us leave this reality before we are consumed by it….

The man walked quietly along the forest path, the only sound his wooden sandals as they clopped along, and occasionally a rustling noise of his robe against the ground of his sheath adjusted by a slight gesture of his hand. And so the man walked.

Until reality split open in front of him and dumped out a group of garishly clad teenagers. The man stopped, his eyes going wide in surprise and bewilderment, as the teenagers got up, groaning.

One of them saw him, cracked his neck, and then waved.

"Hi." Robin said.

"Er…hello." Samurai Jack replied.

Robin was about to ask something else when his nostrils once again filled with ozone and reality blurred away. Samurai Jack watched, as no sooner did the teenagers get up then the air opened behind them and they were dragged away as quickly as they had arrived.

Then they were gone. Samurai Jack stood there for a bit, his eyes wide in astonishment, and then he blinked several times.

"That was…unusual." He said. He stood there for a few seconds, and then he shrugged his shoulders and walked on, his sandals quietly clicking away as he went on into the forest.  
And as for the Titans, it was time for things to get really bad.

Next: CHAOS!


	5. The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 5: The Butterfly Effect

_"…what's going on…?"_

_"…field is growing more unstable, the machine must be breaking down more…"_

_"…that bad…?"_

_"…very well be…"_

_"…hang on guys…"_

The boy had spiky hair, blue eyes, and a large armored cybernetic appendage of some kind that engulfed his right arm. He wore some jeans and a shirt with a big G on it. And he was yelling at someone. Well actually, he was subjecting him to a terrible barrage of puns, though the Titans couldn't see whom he was speaking too.

"You must have been head of your class! Definitely ahead of your time!" he was saying. Whoever he was yelling at responded with a blistering blast of machine gun fire, which the boy blocked with some kind of shield. "You wanna try and hurt me? Go ahead!"

"You know, I think this guy would drive Noel nuts." Robin commented.

"Well, enough, I guess I'll head over there and beat you like I'm supposed to. HEADS UP!" The boy yelled, and leapt.

And as Robin watched him fly, his nostrils sudden filled with ozone, as reality swam in front of him and faded to blistering light as he and the Titans were dragged away, flipping to another timeline…

"Nowhere left for you to run Christmas!" Robin yelled. It looked like this version of Tim hadn't had time to change his costume for a bit: it was torn up and dirty. His disheveled look was more then made up for by his intense look of rage and hate, as he snapped out his bo staff.

"Oh please…" said a familiar voice, and Raven's eyes widened. She had just recovered from another dump and had only looked at that Robin for a bit, and then she turned to see the other speaker. _No…_

It was Noel. Then again, it wasn't. This Noel was wearing black instead of white, had several piercings through both ears, and a strange tattoo on his cheek that Raven couldn't make out from a distance. This Noel cocked his head, looking at Angry Robin with no worries. Rather, he actually looked sadistically content.

"You assume too much Robin. Running denotes a desire to flee. I merely decided it was time to finish this off." Noel said. No, it wasn't Noel, Raven thought. What had Robin called him? Christmas?

Other Titans joined Angry Robin, including a blonde girl Raven didn't recognize, spreading out to surround Christmas. He didn't seem too worried.

"You're going to pay for what you did to Kory." Angry Robin hissed.

"Kory? Was that her name? How disgustingly human." Christmas said, playing with one of his earrings. "You know Robin, this whole quest of yours is futile. You can never take back what I did. She's dead, Robin. Maybe you'll beat me, maybe I'll beat you, but it won't change the fact: I twisted her head like it was a cork to a bottle of fine champagne. And it was her own damn fault too. She shouldn't have rejected me."

Angry Robin screamed and leapt. Christmas chuckled, even as Robin flew at him and the other Titans readied to aid him.

"On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…FIVE BRO-KEN NECCCKKKSSS!"

And Christmas lashed out with the Shimmer.

Even as Raven's vision faded and her nose filled with that damn ozone…

_Flip…_

"Titans, go!" a voice said. It was familiar…but for some reason it seemed a tad too high. Robin peeked around the corner and gaped.

"AHHHH! I'M A GIRL!" he said. The Titans started and took their own looks at the group rushing past. And Robin wasn't the only one who had flipped.

"Good Metrion, I'm a boy." Raven said.

"Dude, I'm HOT." Beast Boy said, looking at his very attractive (and busty) female counterpart. But then his vision blurred.

_Flip…_

"ARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" the man screamed as he fell to his knees, twin smoking stumps where his arms used to be, even as the Titans on the roof goggled in shock at the brutality.

"Very nice Nova." Said an older Robin who wore a blazing red trench coat over black pants and a green short, referring to an older and white-costumed Starfire as she lowered down to the ground, her hands still glowing a slight green from her Starbolt attack. "But was it really necessary to blow off BOTH his arms?"

"So he can't beat his 'ho's' any more? Yes." Replied Starfire, or Nova. This Starfire's tone was harsh, cruel, and bitter. "Ragged, his punk friends are trying to sneak up behind us."

"I know." Robin (Ragged?) said, spinning around to look at the six punk teenagers heading towards him with various weapons. "Boys, boys. Allow me to introduce myself. Name used to be Robin. Now it's Ragged. You see, despite all my skills, I found my normal human self constantly being outclassed by others, so I decided I needed my own advantage and implemented special neurological fighting implants. So, while you have been stupidly standing there listening to me, I have already fought this battle in my head a million times. I know every single possible move ANY of you could make, EVER. And the closest any of you are going to get to harming me is grazing my coat…"

Ragged stopped, taking one part of his coat and swinging it out, revealing a large number of barbed and cruel looking weapons. And the sadistic smirk on his face showed that he would use them without a second thought.

"And you don't want to be doing that."

_Flip…_

"Victor, please! I know this isn't what you want! Stop this madness! Come back to us!" Beast Boy was saying. Around him was the wreckage of a great battle, but only he and another were on the field.

He claimed it was Victor, and his tone indicated that he was calling out to someone he considered a friend. But this didn't look like Victor at all. Instead of a black cyborg, or even a golden android, this possible Victor was composed of reddish black metal with several backwards swept prongs on his head. His eyes were a crackling orange glow, and he had no mouth, but spoke nonetheless.

"I am so sorry Gar…you try to speak to Victor Stone…but I am so much more then that now. I am Cyberion. I am the last hope of the Technis. My actions are no longer that of an individual, but a whole race. It is a responsibility I cannot deny. I wish it could be another way…" Cyberion said as he aimed an arm-formed cannon at Beast Boy.

"Nooooooooooo!" twin Beast Boys yelled in unity.

_Flip…_

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." The priest was saying. As the people in the audience, some costumed, some not, applauded, an older Tim Drake drew back the veil and kissed…

Jinx?

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!??!?!?!?!?" Starfire roared in the back of the room. Fortunately, her voice was lost in the applause.

"I don't think I wanna know." Beast Boy replied.

_Flip…_

Noel again, and while the hair and the jeans were the same white colour, the rest of him had gotten an overhaul. His face was dotted with stubble, and he was flicking off a silver lighter that had lit the cigarette he was smoking. Strangest of all, he was wearing a black shirt/jacket…with a white collar. Noel was a priest?

Raven was with him, but she was also quite different. Someone had injected her with some essence of white trash, as shown by her clearly dyed hair (blonde now) and her slightly haggard look. Her eyes, however, were still sharp, and though she only wore a black tee shirt and slacks, she still had the same mysterious aura that the Raven of The Lost Titans knew had.

"This time I don't want to know." Raven said from the window where the Titans were watching.

Raven was the only girl in the bar, a fact that had attracted some rednecks, who had wandered over. Noel's face narrowed in irritation and anger as the inbred hicks began to bother him and try to take Raven away.

"Think we should help?" Cyborg said, starting to slide the window open.

In the end they didn't have to, as Noel handled it. Not by using the Shimmer though. No. Instead, his eyes' irises suddenly glowed bright red, and he spoke. But it was like no voice the Titans had ever heard. It was if Nails-On-A-Chalkboard's bigger, nastier brother had raked them down the center of their very spine, and that was just to the Titans overhearing it.

**_"FUCK OFF."_**

The rednecks did. In fact, they ran away like all the demons of hell were after them. Except one, the only one who had actually touched Raven. Noel had not spoken to him, but his buddies, and as the punk backed up at the voice, Noel looked at him and spoke.

**_"GO JAM A BROKEN BEER BOTTLE UP YOUR ASS."_**

The redneck, though he clearly didn't want to, walked away, heading to the bar. He picked up a bottle and smashed it, as Noel sat back down, ignoring the punk he had somehow commanded to commit an act of terrible self-mutilation. Raven didn't seem perturbed also: instead she looked at Noel with a look of total dedication and adoration.

"You know, I love the Word sometimes." She said as the redneck, even though his face was filling with horror, took his pants down.

"I love the Word too, also as much as I love you, pretty bird." Noel replied.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

_FLIP…_

Noel and Raven again, no longer a priest and a white trash girl but back to the way that the Titans knew them. And it made what they were seeing all the more horrible.

"No…" Raven whispered. Her cloak was white now, white like Noel's costume. Except Noel's was no longer white but red, red from all the shards of metal stuck through his chest and arms, red from the blood that flowed freely from him in an ever spreading pool, red like the hair on Jack Djinn's head as he looked up from the kneeling position he had over Noel, a victorious smile on his face.

"Well…just in time to join the party, pretty birdie…" Jack said rising up. Where his hands used to be was a pair of spiked gauntlets, black magical weapons that Jack had gotten his non-existent hands on, gauntlets he had used to take his terrible revenge.

"I'm sorry…I'm…sorry…" Noel was whispering, and the Lost Titans, hiding behind a door, having just arrived and not able to do anything, realized that even in the incredible pain that Noel must have been in, he thought it was his fault for luring Raven to her possible doom.

"Now…let's REALLY have some fun." Jack said, and thrust out his hands as a myriad of Grimmer lines fired out at Raven…

Who blasted right through them, ignoring the cutting and grasping lines as she let loose a scream of rage so pure and deep it chilled the Lost Titans to the core, even as she thrust one glowing black hand out and clamped it over Jack's face, flying back…

Jack's head hit the wall so hard the whole building shook, even as his head shattered under Raven's palm and squirted everywhere like a stepped-on donut.

As his body collapsed at Raven's feet, Raven was already turning away, trying to get back to Noel…

But it was too late…

The Titans had thought they had heard a terrible noise before, but as reality blurred away from him, the cry of grief that welled up from within Raven topped it in spades.

As well as the terrible undertone, a cry of triumph, as Raven's skin began to turn red…

_FLIP…_

"Titans, CHARGE!" Robin said.

The word wasn't the only change. For you see, this Robin was a gorilla. So were all the other Titans, minus Starfire, who was still her alien self. But the rest of the Titans were apes, even Cyborg, who was doing his best Cy-Gor impression as the group ran on their hands like gorillas do, past the stunned Human Titans.

As the Ape Titans ran on, Beast Boy fell to his knees.

"YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOUUUUUUU!" Beast Boy wailed.

"Gar, that stopped being funny the LAST two times." Robin commented in a dry tone.

_FLIP…_

"COME BACK HERE INQUE!" Batman yelled as he flew after the mass of shifting black tissue/liquid, hurling sharp Batarangs at it. The mass kept dodging.

"You handed over the mantle to a STRANGER, Bruce? How could you?" Robin said to himself, not knowing what had befallen him here. Batman, meanwhile, was still chasing after Inque.

"Come back here with those formulas!" Batman yelled as Inque moved (slid? Sloshed? Shifted?) past the Titans with Batman hot on her non-existent heels.

"Ok, this is officially the weirdest thing I've seen yet." Robin said.

_FLIP…_

"COME BACK HERE YOU INK-THING!" yelled a voice, and the Titans blinked in surprise as what looked like a squid on two legs ran past them, followed by a guy with a red robe, long white hair, dog ears, waving a sword that was bigger then he was. "GIVE ME BACK MY JEWEL SHARDS!"

"Scratch that last one." Robin said as Inuyasha ran past.

_FLIP…_

"You can't be serious Chloe. I'd look absurd in a costume like that." A young Clark Kent said as he looked at the sketch.

"It would probably be better in execution." The blonde teenage girl replied. Clark was about to say something else when he suddenly smelled ozone, and then heard a loud crashing noise in the room next to him.

By the time the teenager arrived though, all he saw was a flash of color as the Titans were again consumed by light. He blinked several times, wondering what he had seen, and then headed back to the newspaper room.

"What was it?" Chloe said.

"Nothing. Bad science experiment. Look Chloe, let me make a few changes, I suddenly have some inspiration…"

_FLIP…_

"Congratulations Kid Samurai! You are now a Titan!"

_FLIP…_

"Congratulations Switchblade! You are now a Titan!"

_FLIP..._

"Congratulations Arrow! You are now a Titan!"

_FLIP…_

"Congratulations R! You are now a Titan!"

_FLIP…_

"Congratulations Kijin! You are now a Titan!"

_FLIP…_

"Congratulations Gizah! You are now a Titan!"

_FLIP…_

"Ok, this stopped being funny three 'me in a gay relationships' ago!" Beast Boy said as he turned away from the spectacle of him kissing another teenage boy he didn't recognize. He had nothing against homosexuals, but he wasn't one himself.

"Get over it Gar. We've ALL had to watch these involving us." Robin said.

"Except me. It's weird! Why haven't I been in one of these?" Cyborg puzzled.

_FLIP…_

"Go Justice League!" Nightwing said, as older versions of his friends gathered around him.

"All right! We became the Justice League!" Beast Boy said.

**_FLIP…_**

"Give us all your money!" Robin ordered the bank clerk. He looked exactly the same, except for a sinister black mustache. The Titans were gathered around him, and strangely, they all had black mustaches as well. Even Raven and Starfire.

"Dude, we're bad guys!" Beast Boy said.

"And highly unoriginal at that." Raven said.

**_FLIP…_**

"Well done my X-Men!" Charles Xavier said to the Titans standing before him.

"Dude, I don't even KNOW." Beast Boy said.

"I'm wearing blue and yellow. I HATE BLUE AND YELLOW." Raven said.

**_FLIP…_**

The air ripped open, and the Titans were dumped onto another rooftop. By now, they had been yanked and dumped so many times they had gotten landing down to a science.

Beast Boy groaned and fell over.

"Dude, I don't feel so good…."

"Robin…" Starfire said, as she brought her fingers to nose. They came away wet with blood. "I…what is happening…"

"Something's gone wrong. We used to spend some time in each universe. Now we're flipping every minute, or even after a few seconds. I think the Chromoton Destabalizer must be getting worse…"

"And how is this hurting us?" Cyborg said. He didn't feel very good either.

"A new world, a new set of events, a whole new universe of possibilities…all slamming into our brains, over and over. Our bodies can't take it. They're starting to break down…and if we keep flipping, it will just get worse…"

"Robin, come one! We need a plan! Anything!" Beast Boy pleaded.

"I…I…" Robin said.

The scent of ozone filled Robin's nostrils again, and Robin prepared for reality to fade away…

It didn't. Instead, another hole split open near the Titans, and as they started, another figure was dumped out. He landed on his knees and one hand, bracing himself to prevent harm.

Robin's eyes narrowed.

"Slade." He hissed, as the mastermind behind the whole mess the Titans had found themselves embroiled in stood up. He looked over at Robin. His clothes and mask were slightly tattered, as if he had been in a few fights.

"Robin. And Titans. My my, think of the odds that happened to have us both end up in the same place."

"Slade…" Robin hissed again, and would have attacked had Raven not put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's pointless Robin. We might flip again any second now."

"Listen to the girl Robin. She speaks wisely." Slade said.

"Ok Slade, you built the device. How in the hell do we get out of this constant jumping between timelines?" Cyborg asked.

"You may as well help us Slade. You're stuck in the same mess we are." Beast Boy added.

"Help you? Children, I could not help you even if I wanted to. You saw to that. Your ally damaged the device, and then you broke my only control mechanism. You damned yourself, and quite frankly, it is the only comfort I have at the moment. I cannot change anything else." Slade said, and turned around.

"Nothing…we can't do anything…we're doomed…doomed…" Beast Boy said, falling on his rear in dejection.

"Oh Robin…" Starfire said, as she ran over and enveloped him in a hug. "If this is to be our fate, we will face it together."

"We all will." Raven said dejectedly. How ironic. Of all the times for her to exist in, she had to be in one where she did not want to die alone. Then again, Noel being outside the timescape meant he would not die also. If death was her fate, she hoped he would remember her. It was all she could ask for.

"Well, on the bright side, the device seems to have stabilized, so no more flipping every several seconds." Cyborg said. He waited to see if his words triggered another flip, and when none occurred, he looked around, and his eyes widened in recognition.

"Hey guys, do you know where we are?"

Slade was ignoring the Titans. He had, despite his words, not yet consigned himself to certain death, and his brain was furiously running through scenarios and possibilities that would get him out of this. But something was nagging at him, though he couldn't put his finger on it.

Then Cyborg spoke, and suddenly it came crashing back to him.

"Where are we?" Starfire said.

"Hey, I remember this! This is shortly after we formed the team! One of our first battles!" Beast Boy said.

"This place anyway. There's no guarantee this is the time…" Raven said, and then an explosion sounded. "Ok, it is that time."

"I remember this." Robin said. True, it probably wasn't the best time to wax nostalgic, but he did it anyway. "Our first battle was technically just us working together, but this was our first official battle as a team against a foe!"

"Not much of a foe." Beast Boy chuckled. He was looking away from Slade, and hence didn't see Slade's muscles all tense up as his fists clenched. "What was he called? The Rampager?"

"The Ravager." Robin said. "This was before we settled in Jump City, and since we didn't have a set base, we kind of just picked a name out of a hat for our first test: disabling that offshoot of the Black Circle crime syndicate. Which we did quite well, Titans!"

"Oh, now I remember! They hired the Ravager to kill us in revenge." Starfire said.

"And he nearly succeeded, despite what you say, Beast Boy." Raven said. "We were still tripping all over ourselves, and the Ravager was a highly skilled assassin. But we pulled together, and we defeated him, and stuck him in the same jail as his employers. Truly a crowning moment."

"Definitely." Robin said. "That was the day I knew we would make a great team. We worked well together."

"It shouldn't have mattered…"

Cyborg had been about to say something when Slade spoke up in a tone that the Titans had never heard before. Slade had always been calm and controlled. This time, his voice contained…emotion.

"A group of children could not, SHOULD NOT, have won the day. It should have been impossible. It shouldn't have happened that way! IT SHOULD NOT!"

And then Slade snapped around as something snapped into his hands, and then Slade hurled it at them, a whirling projectile.

"AND IT WON'T!"

"TITANS SCATTER!" Robin yelled, and the group did so the explosion rocked the rooftop. Robin rolled and leapt to his feet to counter, but Slade wasn't following up. Instead, he had leapt off the rooftop and was sprinting down another one, heading for the building that the Titans had battled the Ravager in.

Robin snapped out his grappling hook and swung down, but Slade apparently heard him as he suddenly leapt and spun around, hurling another disc projectile that sliced through Robin's jumpline. Robin was saved from a messy landing by Starfire, who caught him and, as they had trained, tossed Robin at a precise angle onto Slade's back.

Or at least he would have, had Slade not ducked at the right time while at the same time snapping out his arm and grabbing Robin, hurling him into the corner of the roof. Robin landed on his feet.

"SLADE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"

"I see why this happened now. I can make things right." Slade said.

"Right?" Robin pondered out loud, as Slade resumed his sprint. Robin started after him again and barely had his skull cracked open by another weapon. What the hell was going on? Slade was extraordinarily talented, but this was beyond talent. This was something else.

"Azarath…" Raven said, and gasped as another weapon was hurled at her. Beast Boy saved her by flying into her and pushing her out of the way.

"Stop it Slade! This is pointless!" Cyborg said.

"Pointless?" Slade said. "You stupid children. You still don't understand, do you? You should not have won that day. And I'll be damned if I stand by and let my son be defeated by a bunch of kids!"

Slade took off again, and for a moment Robin didn't follow. The revelation Slade had blurted out had floored him, both with the knowledge and the realization of why Slade had done so many things.

And then he snapped out of it. He would ponder the whole thing later. For now, he had to save himself, and the others.

"TITANS, GO!" he ordered, and the Titans took off after Slade.

Whether they would arrive in time to save the day...

The Titans mentioned in the "Congratulations" sections are property of crazymonkeygangster, Demon of Shadows, Sagittarius Boy, Mr.Evil ,Xaphrin and Raven, goddess of the dark respectively. Surprise!

Next: The End of Time!


	6. Time Out

Chapter 6: Time Out

Slade Wilson rarely thought with his heart.

It was a lifelong habit. Emotions tended to cause more problems then they solved. They blurred and distorted your focus and your goals to the point where everything became the same. Thinking with your head produced much better results, and hence Slade had always though that way, using logic instead of intuition and feeling. And it had worked for him very well.

True, he thought with his heart every now and then. Though superior to all, he was still human. It was how he met his now ex-wife Adeline, and why he had had a son. Slade had named him Grant.

But Slade's destiny brought him apart from his family, as he continued to improve as they stayed as they were. Part of Slade was saddened by this, but the dominant part quickly rationalized it away. And so Slade had eventually left his family as he went on his way, improving his skills and reputation until he had gotten to where he was today.

But this had not come without cost.

Slade had taught Grant what he could manage, and he had promised Adeline he would not try to force Grant into the life that he had led. But as sons were wont to do, Grant wanted to follow in his father's footsteps.

So Slade, through middlemen and secrecy, aided his son's quest. But only a little. He had had to learn everything himself, and he expected Grant to do the same. Everyone had to make their own mistakes and errors, and Slade couldn't coddle his own flesh and blood and try and shield him from these inevitabilities. And if Grant overestimated himself and wound up dead…well, Slade would mourn a bit and then move on. At least Grant would die a warrior. Slade had taught him that at least.

Grant was on his way to a fair reputation himself, calling himself the Ravager. In the process, Slade had aided in his son in acquiring a gift Slade himself had: the ability to use 90% of his brain at once. The myth that humans only used 10% of their brains was a misconception: they only used 10% of their brains AT ONE TIME. Slade had, through training and other methods, increased his own abilities to 90%. With Grant, Slade saw to it that he was treated even better, as Grant was eventually able to master using 97% of his brain all at once. Surely, this would eventually lead to his son building his own legacy. Slade was proud, and turned back to his own goals, leaving his son to live his own life.

And then came the Titans.

A group from the Black Circle, a crime organization so large it was said to have interstellar contacts, had been taken apart by the just formed Teen Titans. The bosses of that group had hired the Ravager to kill the Titans in revenge. It should have been a doable mission: Grant had more experience, and the children were young and still very immature in their ways and powers. It should have been a challenging task, but one that Grant could have done.

Instead, he had lost.

The children, despite being so green they were literally tripping all over themselves, had somehow managed to defeat Grant, the Ravager. This would have been enough to stir the emotions that Slade usually kept deeply buried, but not enough.

That had come when he had visited Grant in prison, in disguise as Grant's lawyer. He had needed to see how his son was. Had Grant been angry and been plotting revenge against the Titans, Slade would have been on his way. His son would have made a mistake, and would learn from it in any way he saw fit.

But it wasn't like that.

The man Slade had seen in jail was broken. His confidence, his pride, had been smashed to dust in his defeat at the hands of the teenagers who had beaten him. True, nothing had happened to him in prison: Grant was too well trained for that. No shower rapes at the hands of skinheads for him. But the man that had once been his son didn't want revenge, or even a rematch. He just wanted to serve his time, leave, and start over in a new life far away from his old one, to get as far away from the shame he felt at his loss, a loss he was so certain he should not have suffered and yet somehow had.

The Titans hadn't just beaten his son. They'd broken him, destroyed him. And the worst part of all is that they were so immature in their view of "fighting crime" that they had no idea what they had done.

Slade would have gone over and killed the Titans then, so strong did his emotions rise up, but his logic managed to gain control again quickly. Slade had recently been hired to perform another job, and he was being paid very well to do it. Dropping it to go off half-cocked would do irreparable damage to his name and reputation, damage that could prove to be irritating in the long run. So Slade had collected himself and gone to do the job. There were some that had borne the brunt of his rage though, on that mission. Slade almost pitied them. Almost.

And by the time he had gotten back, his anger had cooled, and Slade turn to his brain again to ponder what he would do. No, no simple death would do for these children. He would do some work and give them a real masterpiece in revenge. So Slade had begun to study them.

And he had seen Robin, and all the pieces had fallen into place.

These teenagers, led by Robin, had destroyed his son. So Slade would destroy them by remaking his son through Robin. So Slade had put his pieces into place and begun.

And found, to his surprise, that he too was frustrated by failure. Every plan he put into motion, the Titans somehow found a loophole or a back door or were struck by a stroke of incredible luck. Even when Slade had gotten involved himself, the children had foiled him. When he had sent Killjoy after them, an assassin so good at his job that even THE BAT didn't know if he was real or a myth, they had all somehow survived. And while the Titans had dealt with the rash of lunatics that had popped up, Slade had built his Chromoton Destablizer that would finally set things right…and then that wild card, the pretentiously named Savior, had popped in and ruined everything again, tossing Slade into time's maelstrom, a vortex that Slade knew he might never escape.

But through all that, an opportunity beyond anything Slade expected had shown itself.

All this could be avoided if his son had just beaten those children, as he should have. But it was clear that the Titans lack of experience was balanced by a Midas touch of some kind, as if they were being guided by an omniscient and benevolent hand that led them to victory EVERY DAMN TIME, no matter how great the odds against them were.

Well, THIS TIME would be different. The teenagers had barely pulled together to receive the miracle they had been handed to beat his son. Slade would snuff out that miracle before it occurred by joining the battle. Against a group that had never met Slade, that had never even heard of the name he usually worked under, Slade would aid his son and destroy them.

And then, even as he ran on, putting more distance between himself and his Titans, even if the rest of his life was an endless series of timelines, his fate decided by his body breaking down or being killed in one of those infinite possibilities, Slade would have least set things right. 

THIS time, the Titans would fall.

"Man, I figured he could run, but geez!" Cyborg said as Slade picked up his pace even more.

"He really has wings on his feet." Robin said, knowing full well why. As much as he hated Slade, he knew what drove him: the pure spirit of a father, something even Slade's evil could not swallow.

It aggravated Robin deeper then he expected. Slade should have been pure evil to him, always, not displaying an intention that was almost…honorable.

Almost. For to carry out this intention, Slade was fully ready to kill a slightly younger set of thems.

And Robin wouldn't allow that.

Not this time.

Not in ANY time.

Grant Wilson had never seen his father in costume, but there was something to be said about subconscious influences in the way he was garbed.

Grant Wilson, the Ravager, wore an outfit that was light blue for his head, shoulders, and left arm and dark blue for his torso and right arm. His pants were also light blue, and mostly covered by thigh-high boots that were orange. Grant's belt, a glove on his left hand, and a firing device of some kind of his right hand were also orange. A dark-colored sheath was strapped around his chest, and unlike Slade's mask, Grant's was open at the mouth, exposing part of his face.

A part that had two trickles of blood running from it, one from his hidden nose and another from the left corner of his mouth.

The blood had been drawn at the hands of Robin, who looked pretty much the same as he flew away, courtesy of a pistoning blow from the Ravager. His intent had been accomplished though: the sword that the Ravager used, the one that the sheath was intended for, had been removed from his hands. Now another one of the teenagers, the robot, was charging in for an attack.

Grant didn't know what was happening. When he had lured the Titans to this skyscraper and attacked, he had expected to win with ease. Half the moves that he used that had FAILED had aided him in some way, as the teenagers clearly had no idea how to work together. The orange-skinned one and the green one who turned into animals kept crashing into each other, and Robin and the robot kid couldn't seem to decide who was leading and who was following. The last one kept getting her attacks interrupted by her graceless and confused teammates. It should have been a cinch.

But it hadn't gone that way. Normally he would have killed at least three of the targets and would be mopping up the rest. Instead, the tide had turned, and Grant found himself on the defensive as the Titans blitzed him, the robot being his attacker at the moment.

Grant lifted his right arm, aiming his gauntlet and firing twin metal discs with enough for to go through 2 inches of steel. But the robot showed a sudden influx of speed and somehow dodged the attack, and before Grant could be prepare a follow up, the robot was right in his face.

Cyborg's left fist slammed into the side of The Ravager's head, causing his brain to rattle around in his skull like a can of mixed nuts. Stars and bright flashes of light exploded in Grant's vision as he lurched, his perception suddenly altered to the position of a drunk. 

And leaving him no defense to Cyborg's follow-up attack, as his sonic cannon armed and he thrust it against Grant's chest.

Victor Stone, at this point, hadn't been in his new state as a cyborg long, and had been a "hero" for even less time. Had the Victor WE know done this attack, he would have known enough about the subtleties of pitch, tone, and impact needed to deliver a proper blow without accidentally striking a fatal one.

But THIS Cyborg didn't have that experience. And combined with the pain he was feeling from the Ravager's previous attacks, he wasn't going to discover it here, and cut loose with a full power sonic blast at point blank range right into Grant's chest.

It didn't kill Grant, but only because he had the best in modern body armours. But it didn't stop him from flying backwards like a bullet, his body crashing through the wall behind him and the wall behind THAT. 

Grant came crashing out in a display room of some kind, the area filled with stacked cans, bottles, and other things (perhaps the company whose building we are in made drinks). Amazingly, as Grant hit the ground and half-rolled, half-skipped to the opposite wall, where he finally stopped, he didn't hit any of the displays.

Though it didn't really matter. The blows from Cyborg had royally messed Grant up, and he coughed up some blood as he tried to find his bearings.

The way it originally went, it had ended here. The Titans had headed through the wall holes, and Robin had tied Grant up with a Bird-Something and delivered him to the authorities. And that had been that.

Not this time.

We will note that at the moment, it is very early in the morning (indeed, it is amazing all the Titans are up this early! Whoda thunk it?), to the point that the sun is only beginning to peer above the horizon. We will also note that the room that the Titans of this time are stepping into has no windows, unlike the previous one and the one where the Ravager had ended up in.

Hence, when twin whirling discs flew into the room and smashed the lights, the Titans were plunged into total darkness. The only light was the very faint one that was leaking through the two wall holes, and normally this would allow the Titans to see once their eyes adjusted to the dark.

They never got the chance. Even Robin, who could fit infra-red pieces to his mask in the matter of a few seconds if he needed.

But he never got those seconds.

Slade leapt into the room and attacked at a speed that surprised even him. Even Robin had no idea what had hit him: one second it was light, the next it was dark, and then before Robin could even note it was dark, he felt a terrible impact at the side of his neck and his world was consumed in a greater darkness.

Slade didn't stop, didn't speak, barely even breathed. No sooner was Robin falling then Slade turned and tossed a razor disc with an expert eye. It struck Cyborg in the chest and sliced through, severing his main power line and putting his systems off-line (Slade was very thorough in his observations). No sooner was he falling then Slade flipped over and nailed Raven in the chest with a leaping thrust kick, perfectly hitting her solar plexus and sending such a shockwave through her nervous system through the clustered nerves there that she passed out. Beast Boy, had just met Starfire and was spending as much time close to her as he could so he could oogle her learned that that could have consequences as Slade flipped over again, grabbed him up, grabbed Starfire's hair, and slammed their skulls together so quick they barely had time to understand what had happened. The last two Titans collapsed at his feet.

The whole attack had taken less then five seconds.

Slade took a breath, and then headed for his son. He had already put this group of Titans aside: it would take them at least half an hour to wake up (Cyborg's repair systems would take him at least as much time to re-route such a sudden and drastic bit of damage). He needed to see how his son was, and then, he would deal with HIS Titans. And he would hold nothing back. To save his son, Slade didn't care if he had to kill BOTH sets.

"Grant." He said, nearly down to his child, struck by how similar their costumes were, He never knew how much of an influence he had had on his child. "Grant?"

Grant's vision was still swimming, and to build on the metaphor, the voice he was hearing sounded like it was coming from underwater. Cyborg really had hit him hard: in fact, his armored mask had cracked and was nearly finished the process of falling apart.

"Who…?"

"Grant. It's me." Slade said, and the familiar tone finally pierced Grant's rattled brain.

"Father…?"

"Yes Grant. It's your father." Slade said, as he reached under his chin and pressed a switch. With a small hiss of steam, the front of his mask came off.

The man underneath had a full head of white hair and a small neatly trimmed beard, slightly larger then a goatee. His right eye was gone, no patch covering the sewn together skin that once held the optic orb. And as the Ravager's mask fully disintegrated, you could see the features on his face mirrored on those of Slade's.

"Dad…what…?"

"Don't worry Grant. I know. Don't feel any shame. Those children are more then just young metahumans. They have a certain something you never could have seen. You made a mistake, as we all do. Don't let it trouble you. For these Titans are enough of a threat to challenge even me."

"But…I…" Grant murmured.

"Do not talk. I'll handle this. Trust me, it is for the best. It is nothing against you. It is THEM who must be punished…" Slade said, as his tone became a hiss. Had Grant been in a better state of mind, he might have boggled at the unusual tone that had entered his father's voice, a tone that was always calm and even.

It was hate.

"Slade."

Slade didn't even turn around, as he was still checking Grant's injuries. He already knew who was behind him,

The Teen Titans. The Lost Titans. HIS Titans. They had come in, checked their past comrades, and then moved on to confront him. For no other reason then their immature belief that stopping him was the right thing to do.

They thought that this belief was righteous and lent them power.

Stupid, childish FOOLS…

How could he ever thought he could have remade his son through Robin? In his own way, he had been a fool.

But no more.

He would show them power.

"Slade." Robin repeated, his staff extended and at the ready, his allies prepared around him.

"Do not call me by that name any more Robin. You no longer have the right." Slade said as he got up. Robin arched his eyebrow, his anger fading slightly as confusion over Slade's tone replaced it.

"I thought you could be something for me Robin. That was why I gave you that name. But now I see, oh so clearly…" Slade said as he turned around, as the Titans finally saw his face, if only for a brief time. "That I was wrong. You are not worthy to be my apprentice. You are merely my enemy. And you will call me by the name that my many foes had on their lips as I buried them…"

Slade snapped his mask back on.

"DEATHSTROKE, THE TERMINATOR!"

And the man known as Slade and now as Deathstroke leapt at the Titans, his speed surprising even Robin, as they scattered to…

But their carefully constructed plan may as well have been spur of the moment, as Deathstroke abruptly switched direction and leapt to the side. Before Starfire knew what was happening he had ahold of her ankle.

And then all she knew was pain as Slade yanked her down, grabbing her arm and then slamming her sternum down across his knee as hard as he could. The pain exploded through Starfire, leaving her body limp, even as the impact threw her back up, as Deathstroke moved to the side, ever so slightly, and spun, slamming Starfire with a vicious roundhouse kick that sent her flying across the room and smashing through the windows, which shattered into a thousand shards of crystal as she fell out.

"WHY YOU…!" Cyborg yelled as he armed his chest missile launchers. A poor move, as Deathstroke spun, flipped, and aimed in mid air and upside down as a small ray popped up on his forearm and fired. Robin recognized it as the version of the heat ray he had stolen for Deathstroke as the beam flew forward and struck Cyborg in the chest. The missiles prematurely detonated in their launchers, blowing Cyborg back through a display of cans that collapsed on him, scattering all over the floor.

"Azarath Metrion…" Raven began, lifting up more cans from another display, but Deathstroke beat her to the proverbial punch, as he turned and hurled twin discs in a quick one-two motion. One disc knocked one of the heavy cans askew from Raven's grip, and then the second struck it at a precise ankle and knocked it aside, right into Raven's face. The impact knocked the girl back with a slight cry as she crashed through another exhibit.

A growl sounded next to Deathstroke as he turned, as Beast Boy swiped at him as a bear. But Deathstroke ducked under the blow and drove his fist into Beast Boy's side, into a soft spot between the great amounts of muscle a bear had. Beast Boy gasped, and that gave Deathstroke another opening as he aimed a precise hand chop into the folds of Beast Boy's neck. The bear stumbled, and Deathstroke leapt up, grabbing hold of the fur and pulling himself up, and slammed his fists on each side of Beast Boy's head. The pain disoriented Beast Boy, and he started to fall, as Deathstroke shifted his position and thrust his legs down, slamming Beast Boy's head between the floor and his armored boots. Beast Boy became human again, groaned, and passed out, as Deathstroke flipped off his body and found himself face to face with Robin.

Robin was astounded: Slade had attacked at such speed that even he hadn't had time to react to anything. And he knew why.

He wasn't fighting a warrior, or a mercenary, or a madman, or a combat genius, though Slade was all of those things and more.

He was fighting a father.

And the two stood, looking at each other like Wild West gunmen, waiting to see who would blink first.

In the end it was Robin, as he yelled and leapt at Slade, swinging his staff.

Poor choice.

Deathstroke blocked the blow with his forearm as if Robin was attacking him with a feather duster and fired back with a pistoning hook into Robin's side, driving the wind out of him and making him double up on instinct. Deathstroke made him pay for it, grabbing Robin's hair and slamming his knee into Robin's face. Blood sprayed as Robin fell back, but he quickly recollected himself and turned the blow into his own attack as he slammed his heels under Deathstroke's chin. With a small snapping noise, Deathstroke's mask broke off again, exposing his old face. Strangely, the look he wore seemed almost…noble.

Robin was back on his feet and slashing the staff out, but Deathstroke leapt over it, swinging his leg out in his own slashing air roundhouse. But Robin had done the move on purpose, as he darted in, hooked his arm and shoulder under Deathstroke's leg in mid-air, and twisted/yanked Deathstroke forward…

But Deathstroke's body control was even greater then Robin expected, as he didn't fly forward but instead twisted down at the exact last second he could, even as his legs twisted and grabbed Robin around the neck. With a sudden scream of shock, the thrower became the throwee as Slade hurled Robin forward with his legs, sending Robin crashing through yet another display and then face first into the wall. Robin crumbled to the ground, tried to get up immediately…and then collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing hard as he tried to collect his senses.

"Won't lose…to you…Slade…" Robin gasped, and then started getting up.

Deathstroke snapped out his arm, hurling a final disc.

Robin dodged to the side.

The disc missed Robin, bit it bounced off a display of cans behind him, and as that display collapsed, it careened off another wall. As Robin picked up his fallen staff and charged again with a scream, the disc hit the ceiling.

Deathstroke stood there, his arms held calmly behind his back, as the disc ricocheted off another wall from the ceiling.

Robin raised his staff…

And the disc slammed into the back of his head.

Robin's body actually stopped, and then took another two more steps before it caught up with the brain and pitched forward. As reality blurred and faded before Robin, his last thought was a question: where was the ozone scent…?

As Robin fell at his feet, the disc that had knocked him out bounced off another wall and headed towards Slade. With a snapped out arm, he caught it.

And Starfire flew in from behind him, screaming her rage, her hands glowing bright green…

And Slade snapped his fist up as she flew right into his backhand. She rocked from the blow, and then fell down next to her young love.

"You already had, Robin."

Deathstroke, or Slade, in a way now, calmly put the disc away. All the Titans were down and out, and the only sound were slight rumbling-esque noises as cans and bottles rolled on the floor. Slade felt satisfied. He would check up on Grant, and then he would…

"Father…?"

Slade turned to see his son getting up, still very groggy from the blow. A slight smile, an expression that was very rare for Slade, came to his face. He had won.

"What…is…" Grant said, stumbling forward.

And he stepped on the can.

There was a reason why Grant had not hit any displays when he had made his original trip into the room: he wasn't meant to. But Slade, his father, had changed all that, his battle against the Titans leaving the room in ruins. That, combined with Grant's off state, had produced the can that had been knocked from its display, a display which some unknown Titan had knocked down via Slade's attack, a can that had rolled over to him, the can that Grant had now stepped on, the can that slid from under Grant's foot as the already stunned and dizzy assassin lost his balance.

And stumbled…

Slade's eyes went as wide as saucers.

"No."

Another thing about the room had changed in the battle: Slade had defenstrated it when he had dealt with Starfire. There was nothing standing between Grant and open air as he slipped on the can and stumbled towards the opening on the floor. And even he, with his highly enhanced senses, could not stop his loping stagger towards.

"NO!" Slade screamed, as he ran towards Grant, as his son reached the edge. His panic and fear propelled him at an even greater speed that he had used to outrun the Titans, his despair magnified tenfold as he dashed at his son, reaching out as his son began to fall back.

For a moment, their fingers brushed.

And then Grant fell, vanishing from his father's vision as he plummeted. For all he had put into it, Slade had not been able to move fast enough to stop what he had changed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Slade screamed, as he watched gravity seize his son and pull him down to the breast of its cruel mistress.

The worst thing was the look on Grant's face. It wasn't of fear, or of confusion. It wasn't of rage, or hate. What his face bore, as he fell, was a look of utter…grief.

It spoke volumes without a word.

__

I'm sorry Dad. I failed.

And then he was gone. He didn't even scream.

"No…" Slade said, falling to his knees, his arm dangling helplessly over the edge. "Grant…what have I done…Grant…"

Change one thing, change everything.

The Titans found Slade down on the ground a few minutes afterward. Slade's inability to fly or to grapple down the building had forced him to take the stairs. It had been Cyborg who had had enough sense left in him to see what had happened, he who had woken up fully first and revived the Titans. Since three of them could fly, the Titans arrived almost as soon as Slade had reached the broken body and cradled it in his arms.

"Grant…oh Grant…" Slade said, his face lowered against Grant's chest, searching for a heartbeat he knew would not be there. "I'm sorry…forgive me…Grant…"

The cracked, weeping tone of Slade's voice was as surreal a thing the Titans had ever heard. Cyborg took a step forward, and found the last arm he had been expecting stopping him: Robin. He shook his head, his face solemn.

Starfire looked about ready to cry herself, the anger she felt at a foe replaced by the sorrow she felt for his loss. Beast Boy looked a bit sniffly himself, and Raven shared the solemn look Robin had.

Slade may have been their enemy, perhaps he could even be called a hated enemy. But none of the Titans could attack him now. For they understood his grief all too well. It was grief even Slade deserved: a man who had seen his child die before his eyes. A child who was not meant to die…

Until he changed it…

And so the Titans stood silently around the weeping Slade, wondering if anything would ever be right again, and then reality shimmered slightly around them, and suddenly the cracked pavement and the building that had stood behind them were gone, replaced with the cold, dark floor and walls of a warehouse.

"Guys?"

The Titans blinked, snapping out of their observation and realizing where they were. The realization fully hit home when Robin turned his head and saw the shattered remains of the Chromonton Destablizer as it fell apart completely.

They were home.

"Oh guys. Thank god." Said the voice, and then Savior was there, the Savior, the Noel they knew, looking at Robin and co. Robin blinked, and then he smiled.

"Savior." He replied, catching himself at the last second from speaking Noel's name.

In the shadows at the edge of the warehouse, a dark figure looked over the teenagers that had appeared from the shifting plasmic mass he and Savior had worked so hard to free them from, his expert's eyes scanning for any injuries. He found no serious ones, and looking at his ward, he allowed himself a slight smile of relief and then disappeared back into the darkness. His task was done here, he had to return to his city.

"Savior! Oh it is so good to see you!" Starfire said, grabbing Noel and crushing him in a hug. By now, Noel had learned enough to hold his breath beforehand, and hence didn't have to struggle out Starfire's tight grip in order to breathe.

"Good to see you too Star. All you all right?"

"I think so." Robin said.

"Ok here." Cyborg said.

"And here." Beast Boy added.

Raven said nothing, she just walked over to Noel. Noel looked at her half in relief and half analytically as he himself checked for injuries.

Robin, by now, had turned around to look at Slade again, and the other Titans followed his gaze.

All except Raven, who leapt into Noel's arms the second none of the other Titans were looking and pressed her lips to his with a passion and fury that Starfire would have been impressed by. Savior, for his part, was too stunned to reply, even after she broke it.

"What was that for?" he finally asked.

"Just for you being you." Raven replied, and something in her tone made Noel understand.

So they joined the Titans as they looked at Slade. He was still on the ground, but Grant was gone. He had faded away with the timeline, but he may as well have still been there as Slade remained hunched over, his face now buried in his hands, very slight sounds that may or may not have been actual crying escaping him. Once again, Noel was utterly stunned at this change, the icy-hearted Slade he had been told off having been replaced with this…human.

"When you got caught in the device, I got on the horn to Batman. He came over and he and Oracle, with some aid from me, managed to build a device that was able to stabilize the chronological field you were trapped in. He appears to have left, guess he took the device with him…" Noel said as he looked at Slade. "What happened?" he finally asked Robin, in a quiet tone.

"He tried to change things for the better. He found that change is not something to trifle with, and he was punished for it. Dearly." Robin replied.

"I see." Noel said. "Well then, I guess we should…"

"No." Robin said. "Leave him."

This time, Noel was not alone in his expression of disbelief. All the other Titans shared it.

"What? Fearless…" Cyborg protested.

"I don't give many orders guys. But this is one. Leave him. What he saw is punishment enough for now."

"And if he returns and causes more trouble?" Savior asked.

"Then I will deal with it. I will deal with the punishment then. But now…just leave him. He's broken. There's nothing we could do anyway."

"Are you sure?" Raven asked.

"Yes." Robin replied. "Let's go home."

And the Titans turned and left Slade, who seemed to have been oblivious to the whole conversation, heading back to the T-Tower, THEIR T-Tower, a place that all of them would look upon with new comfort.

"Robin leaving his mortal enemy when he could have easily taken him to jail." Savior thought out loud as the Titans faded into the shadows. "I didn't think it was possible."

"Anything's possible." Robin replied. "Just give it some time."

And then Slade was alone.

He stirred, as his calm front struggled to return. But this return was destined to be a failure as another storm was whipping up, about to erupt, as he realized what had happened.

His plan had failed in ways he couldn't even have conceived. Not only had he failed to set the 'proper' timeline, a plan that seemed like it was conceived an eternity ago, but he hadn't been able to save his son. And he had done even worse then before. Grant was alive in this time, sitting in jail with his pride shattered, but he was alive. But in another timeline, Slade had killed his own child, as surely as if he had delivered the death blow himself.

The storm raged, as a name came to his lips. The name of the one whom had caused all this. Who had ruined everything, and forced him to witness things no father, or man, should have to see. The wild card that had come up out of nowhere and destroyed it all with one errant attack.

A name the Titans who be surprised and shocked if he knew, but Slade was, above many other things, not an idiot. He had contacts AND a brain, and it hadn't been hard to put together the pieces to bring him the name. They called him Savior, but he was also…

"Collins…" Slade hissed.

Slade Wilson rarely thought with his heart. But as he reared back, as the storm exploded through his being, he both thought and spoke with it, as he let loose a noise of grief, rage, and above all else, a vow against the child who had done this.

Slade had a new quest.

And he would not fail, as he screamed to the empty warehouse, to the heavens and the hells, so loud it almost seemed to penetrate across reality and sweep across all the realms the Titans had seen and all the infinite possibilities they had not.

And in each of them, someone shuddered.

"ANOTHER TIME, COLLINS! **_ANOTHER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_**"

The End

This Time…


End file.
